Newcastle Falcons surge through to Premiership Rugby 7s finals

Newcastle Falcons booked their place in the Premiership Rugby 7s finals after a clean sweep of victories last night in Darlington.

The Falcons defeated Leicester Tigers (26-21), Sale Sharks (29-7) and London Welsh (14-5) to book their place, with Leicester joining them in Friday’s finals night at the Twickenham Stoop.

Last night’s event was the last of the four qualifying rounds, Harlequins, Northampton, Gloucester, London Irish, Newport Gwent Dragons and Cardiff Blues having already secured safe passage.

The home of Darlington Mowden Park more than lived up to the razzle-dazzle of the sevens carnival, a crowd numbering 7,057 including contingents from amateur clubs right across the North East in a firm demonstration of the region’s appetite for top-class rugby.

The Falcons were forced to come from behind in their opening game, trailing Leicester Tigers 14-12 at the break before going on to claim a 26-21 triumph.

Two super tries from Tom Catterick sealed the deal, Leicester having taken an early lead when Andy Bulumakau’s try had put the East Midlands giants ahead straight from the kick-off.

Chris Harris hit back for the Falcons when he ran through the middle of a ruck on the 22, George Catchpole extending the Tigers’ lead with a length-of-the-field counter-attack.

Andy Davies’ opportunist try from a scrum against the head got Newcastle to within two just before the interval, Catterick showing his class by picking a devastating inside line against Leicester’s drift defence to retake the lead.

George Tressider’s try threatened to dampen the Falcons’ party, but when Catterick broke down the blind-side from a quickly-tapped penalty they were off to a winning start.

Sale Sharks provided the opposition in their second encounter, Newcastle domianting from start to finish as their physical brand of sevens deprived their visitors of both territory and possession.

Dan Temm’s breakdown work, Ben Morris’ direct running and the back-line vision of Catterick and Lee Smith were the difference, Simon Hammersley dotting down the opening try as he accepted an inside ball from close range.

Smith showed his predatory instinct as the former England rugby league international went route-one in a power-packed drive for the try-line, Newcastle 10-0 up at the break as both conversions failed to find their mark.

Such fine margins could count come finals night, but such was the comfort of their supremacy here it mattered not – Morris ploughing over for the third try after the break as a quickly-tapped penalty caught out Sale.

Nathan Fowles snuck a consolation score for the Sharks, but it was all Newcastle for the remainder as Brian Tuilagi dotted down from Tom Wilson’s break and Chris Harris parted the defence for the fifth and final try in a 29-7 triumph.

The decisive game of the night pitted the Falcons against London Welsh, Harris snatching the opening try from the fringes of a close-range ruck for a 7-0 half-time lead.

Jamel Chisholm’s unconverted try narrowed the gap to just two, but Tom Wilson’s try was enough to put the issue beyond doubt in a 14-5 triumph.

Meanwhile, Newcastle have confirmed that prop-forward Gary Strain has left the club.

The Scottish prop spent last season with the Falcons after joining from the French lower leagues, the former Glasgow Hawks man playing six Premiership games but failing to nail down an extended contract.

In rugby league, speculation is growing that Super League’s ‘Magic’ weekend could be coming to Newcastle next year.

Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium held this year’s two-day event which sees all the teams in the top division of English rugby league playing an extra round of games, but St James’ Park is increasingly emerging as a front-runner as rumours of a venue switch to the North East gather pace.

Article source: http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/aug/03/waratahs-revolution-complete-with-super-rugby-title

Newcastle Falcons surge through to Premiership Rugby 7s finals