Falcons reach sweet sixteen

Newcastle Falcons secured their place in the Championship play-offs with a comfortable 50-3 victory over Cornish Pirates on Saturday.

First things first, credit has to be given to those people who worked through the day to ensure this re-arranged fixture would not again be postponed due to the lovely white flakes we call snow.

It only took a matter of minutes forNewcastleto crash over the line, with Will Welch breaking away from a close-range ruck. Jimmy calmly stepped up to add the conversion.

The conditions made the play messy and it took Pirates until the 21st minute to add some points onto the board with a penalty, however it was quite literally seconds after the penalty that Falcons ran down the left with Mark Wilson feeding the ball toHudsonwho scored the second try of the evening.

The half-hour mark was reached with a chip and chase from Ryan Shortland which set up a ruck for Scott McLeod to score the third try of the evening. However Jimmy was unable to convert. The bonus point try was also scored before half-time with Oliver Tomaszczyk bundling over the try line. The score was 26-3 at half-time.

The second half started as the first half finished with Falcons dominating play. It only took five minutes into the second period forHudsonto score a try, however it was pulled back for a knock-on.  That didn’t seem to dampen the mood forNewcastle. Nine minutes in, Rory Lawson scored in the right corner from a dominatingNewcastlescrum, unfortunately the conversion was wide. 

Michael Tait was able to burst through the Pirates defence a couple of minutes later which led to Will Welch adding his name to the score sheet for the second time of the night. Jimmy was able to add the simple conversion in front of the posts.

Falcons' dominance in the scrum was clear to see with a drive of 15 metres in the 67^th minute which allowed Jamie Helleur to add his name to the score sheet.

The final try of the evening was set up by Ryan Shortland who was able to capitalise on a Pirates penalty which missed touch. Shortland was able to sprint down field and offload the ball to Gopperth who slid in the corner.  Conversion added leaving the final score 50-3.

The conditions were nowhere near the best, but this game has to be the best of the season for Newcastle and has guaranteed that they will be taking part in the play-offs.