Five-star Falcons flying high

The Falcons began life in the Championship with a bonus-point win at Bristol yesterday, putting 37 points on the hosts in what may on paper be our hardest game of the season. It was the best possible start.

Well, it might have been better had Tane Tu’ipulotu not sent a pass way over Andrew Higgins’ head at the end of the first half, but other than that Tulip had a solid game and scored the first try so I’m sure we can forgive him.

We now sit joint top of the table with Nottingham and Bedford, and Dean Richards has had a winning start to his competitive comeback.

Richards sprung a few selection surprises as the revolution began in earnest, with Chris Pilgrim and Sean Tomes starting, and Andrew Higgins making a debut on the wing. Oliver Tomaszczyk and Alex Crockett also made their Falcons bows.

Bristol included a number of former blacks in Glen Townson, Luke Eves, Redford Pennycook and new signing James Grindal.

Tristan Roberts and Jimmy Gopperth exchanged penalties early as the Falcons looked the better attacking team, but Bristol also showed pace on the counter-attack.

We went ahead for the first time when Tulip outpaced the defence on the far left, though Gopperth couldn’t score the difficult conversion.

Bristol hit back through Ryan Edwards, who found himself free on the right but was able to come inside behind the line to give Roberts an easy conversion. Another penalty gave the hosts a five-point lead and some Geordie nerves may have been on edge.

However Gopperth knocked over two penalties to give us the lead again, before Luke Fielden, who performed well in his first league game back from long-term injury, beat the home defence on the right following a well-constructed drifting attack. This time Gopperth did convert.

The Falcons could have all-but had the game won by the interval but with a huge overlap following a storming run from Taiasina Tu’ifua, Tu’ipulotu’s final pass went into the crowd.

James Hudson’s body language suggested that he, like us, could not believe what he had just seen.

However, 13-21 up at the break was a good start.

After another Gopperth penalty in the second half, another fast move across the field left the Falcons with a two-on-one and Higgins dribbled through for Fielden to race onto the loose ball and score our third try. Gopperth nudged the lead closer to three converted tries with a fifth penalty.

Bristol were given faint hope by a try from Eves against his former club, Roberts converting.

While the result was not in doubt, some away fans felt concerned that we would only get four points. Maybe it’s just that we’re in the Championship but it was a strange feeling.

However the Falcons weren’t to be denied, Ally Hogg capping a good individual performance with a try that gave us a second successive bonus-point victory at the Memorial Stadium.

The missed conversion mattered little, and while there is plenty to work on, for example some loose passing and ensuring we can take our chances against sides we expect to beat, which may haunt us in the play-offs, it was a very good start to the season.

Now for one of the real reasons we got relegated – London Scottish at the Richmond Athletic Ground.