Username
Password
White wash ensures home quarter final

4 tries
By Ash January 23 2008
On Sunday 20th January, Newcastle Falcons scored 15 tries past Cetransa El Salvador to ensure a home tie against Castres in the next round of the European Challenge Cup. After a hard battle against Brive the week before, big names were respectfully rested this week as Fletcher decided to give the younger boys a chance to shine. Boy did they shine!

It only took 16 minutes for the Falcons to claim their fourth try and the all important bonus point with Ben Woods crashing over to send the Falcons through into the next round of the cup.

 

Ollie Phillips was the man who stood out, grabbing four tries in this game, beating his personal best – but again he still needs to learn some new celebration moves as the can-can is getting a bit old now!

 

Captain Phil Dowson also managed to grab two tries in his returning home game. Both hookers, Rob Vickers and Matt Thompson were able to grab tries from rolling mauls. The play was messy in parts with Falcons having numerous handling errors, passing the ball backwards when no one was behind them etc.

 

Yet Falcons tried not to get too ahead of themselves and with clever play they were able to score try after try after try!! The Falcons did show some strength upfront against the El Salvador pack, dominating the set pieces.

 

You have to give some credit to El Salvador, by half time they knew they were down and out with the score board showing 59-0. Yet in the second half, they attacked the Falcons defence but were unable to cross the line to send there small following of fans into uproars.

 

The only disappointed from the fans perspective, why couldn’t we reach 100 points? It would have amused the fans to see how the score board would cope – considering it is only built for 2 digit scores!

 

Following on from the win, it was confirmed on Monday that Jonny Wilkinson has renewed his contract with the Newcastle Falcons and will be staying up north for the next two seasons. Wilkinson had been approached with offers from other Premiership clubs as well as overseas clubs, but he turned them down and opted to stay with a club he believes is capable of winning silverware. It is a step up in the campaign to make rugby noticed here in the North East, as this is an area dedicated to football. 

 Well done to the Falcons for the win and also well done to the club in keeping a known legend here in the North East.

Bookmark or share this story with:

SPORTNETWORK SPECIALS

sb pkr

Newcastle Falcons Poll

Who do you think is the best referee in the Premiership?