Falcons fly high and hit cloud nine
By Ash C
November 12 2012
As games go in the Championship, on Friday night Nottingham gave Falcons their first close game of the season - well in the first half anyway!
Before the game, Dean Richards gave a few words in the Season Ticket holders bar and indicated that he was not expecting a victory of over 50 points, he would be happy enough with a win. And a win is what we achieved. He also pointed out that a nasty sickness bug was making its way through the team and we may expect some players running off during the course of the game to visit the restroom for a quick toilet break. Just as well the players were wearing black!
The game started off with a try scored in the seventh minute by Richard Mayhew who crossed the line from a close lineout. However once the try was scored it appeared that Falcons took their foot off the gas and the errors began to creep in. It was not helped with some questionable decisions being called by Mr Lee that resulted in me wondering if I had done the right thing in agreeing to write this match report! The first half finished 7-6 with both sides missing the opportunity to have a comfortable lead at half time.
The second half opened with Jimmy Gopperth taking a penalty, but unfortunately he was unable to capitalise on the three points after hitting the upright, but 30 seconds later he had another shot and managed to convert the penalty. It only took eight minutes into the second half for another Falcon try to be scored and this time it was by Alex Tait. Tait had made a few errors in the first half but they were all quickly forgotten about as he sprinted from his own half to score with Jimmy adding the conversion.
Nottingham didn’t take long to get another score on the board as they managed to convert a penalty after the referee accused the Falcons of taking the man out in the air after the restart. Nonetheless that didn’t damper the spirit of the Falcons and they seemed to finally have their head in the game. Gaps began to appear in the Nottingham defence and Falcons chipped away at these gaps to get closer to the all-important try line.
It wasn’t until the last ten minutes of the game when the Falcons finally found themselves in Nottingham’s 22 and were awarded a scrum near to the try line. However Nottingham conceded penalty after penalty, their loose head prop paying the price by being sin binned for continually collapsing the scrum. It wasn’t until at least the sixth penalty that the referee finally went under the posts to award Falcons a well-deserved penalty try. Gopperth was able to add the easy conversion to make the score 22-9 with only a few minutes of the second half remaining.
It was uncertain if there would be time for that all-important fourth try to be scored, however luck was on the side of Falcons as they managed to collect the bonus point with the last play of the game. Luke Fielden was able to sprint into the left hand corner and sens the small crowd into a well-deserved celebration knowing the game was secured.
After the all impressive win it leaves Falcons 12 points clear of Bedford in the table and knocks poor Nottingham back down to third.
Falcons have a well-deserved week off next week, however the force of Tonga will be landing at Kingston Park on Tuesday evening. Let’s hope it remains a ‘friendly’ and the only injuries caused will be bumps and a few bruises!
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Hey Ash I guess you must have dashed off early to type up your report!!
What about Joel's Knock on of the year when we broke 80 metres down the western touch line*?? Should have been 36-9
* from the East Terrace it looked like Joel nutted it on in which case I believe it isn't a KO but I'll bow to the ref's greater proximity
Quote:CharlieDog
Nothing to do with Joel, he set it up brilliantly, it was Taity who knocked it on - right in front of me in the South Stand.
Cheers Charlie thanks for the correction
Apologies Joel
(For Joel please read Taity)