Falcons crash out in sevens finals group

After soaring into the finals of the JPMorgan Asset Management 7s last week, the Falcons headed to Bath with high hopes on Friday night.

However, two defeats by Saracens and eventual champions Gloucester left the Falcons rooted to the bottom of Pool B on the night.

Coach Calum MacRae brought in Warren Fury and Chris York following the qualifying round in Northampton, but the Welsh scrum-half was ruled out through injury alongside Richard Mayhew and Joel Hodgson, leaving Tom Catterick to captain the side.

After Leicester routed Worcester, the Falcons' first outing at the Recreation Ground was against locals Gloucester, for whom a large number of fans had travelled. Steph Reynolds gave the Cherry and Whites a 7-0 half-time lead, and after another try by Gareth Evans, Simon Hammersley had a chance to halve the deficit on the far right, but inexplicably drifted inside towards the stretched Gloucester defence.

Gloucester secured their victory by isolating Hammersley and Andrew Bulumakau outpaced the academy man through the centre to score under the posts. At 21-0, the Falcons were soundly beaten and now needed a good win over Saracens to have any hope of progressing to the final.

Leicester sealed their place in the final with a narrow 19-17 victory over Harlequins before the Falcons returned to the field to try to salvage hopes of winning the tournament for the second time in three years.

Newcastle took the lead with a try from Chris Harris, but Saracens captain Jack Wilson scored immediately to open up a 5-7 lead for the London side, coached by Joe Shaw. Sam Stanley increased the lead as the Falcons' defence seemed to go AWOL. Luke Baldwin put the game beyond the Geordies' reach in the second half.

Two late tries from Hammersley and Catterick at least gave the Falcons the consolation of a losing bonus point in their early exit.

After Harlequins defeated Worcester Warriors in a Pool A dead rubber, Gloucester secured a spot in the final by beating Saracens 17-14. The final saw Gloucester keep the trophy in the South West, with a 24-17 win over Leicester.

The Falcons will no doubt have been disappointed with their performance on Friday night after being rightfully confident of a good show, but at such times it is best to remember that the real business does not begin for another few weeks.