Mixed bag Falcons in eleventh heaven

Going into the rest of the weekend's fixtures, the Falcons sit top of the Championship by 17 points after finishing the first half of the regular season with another win over Plymouth at Kingston Park.

In another game of two halves, our team laboured against a strong and dogged Devon side before the break, but then turned on the style in the second half to show the kind of running rugby we all want to see and secure a 31-15 win.

I dare say a play-off place is now pretty safe unless something pretty catastrophic happens.

Following last weekend's trip to Jersey, Dean Richards made only one change to the starting line-up by bringing in Andrew Higgins for Ryan Shortland, Suka Hufanga taking Higgins' place on the bench alongside fellow international Islander Taiasina Tu'ifua. Rory Lawson was also a replacement with Scotland's programme of Autumn friendlies over.

The Falcons fumbled Plymouth's kick-off and the away side won back possession, moving across the field to the far left where Aaron Carpenter managed to scurry onto the line and open the scoring with a shock try. Henry Slade converted and suddenly the Falcons found themselves 0-7 down.

The home team found their feet however and Jimmy Gopperth kicked two penalties to settle any nerves. The Falcons began to gain more possession but didn't look like they had the cutting edge to break through a committed away defence.

We took the lead midway through the first half however when Mark Wilson scored a try from a maul, a source of progress for the Falcons all night. Gopperth kicked the conversion, but Plymouth hit back through a try from winger Thomas Bowen. Strange things were happening in the cold of KP.

Grant Shiells was forced off later in the first 40, giving Scott Wilson a Falcons league debut, but a third penalty put us 16-12 up at the break. Gaffer Richards was no doubt again not preparing the hairdryer.

Something must have happened though because after Slade kicked a beast of a penalty to reduce Plymouth's deficit to just a single point, the Falcons took control and played some quite attractive rugby.

Through set-pieces and fast open play, Newcastle stretched the visitors' defence and the ball was moved swiftly from left to right where Luke Fielden was able to touch down in the corner. Gopperth was unable to convert but added a fourth penalty to make the lead nine points. Suka Hufanga, making his first league outing of 2012/13, almost made it over the line but was hauled down and penalised for holding on.

Fellow replacement Taiasina Tu'ifua showed some abrasiveness following his introduction and looked a possible option for a tap penalty five metres out, which one would think would have been likely to result in a try. However, the Falcons decided to go for the scrum instead.

The third try did come from an Islander however, Jamie Helleur capping a fine individual performance by dipping through a gap in the defence and touching down under the posts, providing an easy conversion.

Attention now obviously turned to a bonus point, but for the first time this season the Falcons left the KP pitch with only four points. Still runs are there to be ended. James Hall was also sent to the bin in injury time but it mattered little in the overall scenario.

Not many opponents have been competitive against us this season so these kind of games are always good to keep the team on their toes, and provide lessons for future improvement, providing they are won. In the end last night may have been difficult but the Falcons never really seemed in danger of losing, so all's well and a 17-point lead at the top, even if it were to be reduced tomorrow by Bedford or Nottingham, is a more than decent position at the start of December.