Caldy 12-33 Newcastle: Falcons overpower spirited Championship side in the Premiership Rugby Cup
11/03/2024 05:09 AM
By Daniel Wright
In a game between the bottom sides in each of England's top two tiers, it was the Premiership side that prevailed at Paton Field. The away side scored five tries as they dominated their second division hosts, despite some moments for the home crowd to enjoy.
Newcastle got off to a blistering start with two tries in the opening seven minutes of the contest. The first came after just four, the move set up by a brilliant cross-field kick and finished by Oli Spencer in the left corner of the pitch. The second soon followed with a scintillating passing move through the lines of the Caldy ranks, resulting in Falcons scrum-half Hugh O'Sullivan going over in a much easier position for a conversion.
At this stage Caldy fans must have been fearing the worst, and these fears nearly intensified in the 20th minute when Newcastle once again approached the try line. However, this time the resolute defence of the home side was enough to hold the ball up and they remained just 12 points behind. This seemed to give the side from the Wirral belief, and for the rest of the half they seemed far more compact and assured on and without the ball.
The second part of the first 40 was far scrappier and more disjointed than the first, especially from Newcastle's point of view. There were not many sustained attacks, and none had the speed and flow of their three main previous efforts- much it has to be said due to Caldy's increased resilience. Nevertheless, the away team were able to further extend their advantage on the stroke of half time after an errant Caldy penalty missed touch and the Falcons took advantage moments later. Freddie Lockwood, on his 50th appearance for the side, was able to force his way through after a line-out and Brett Cannon once again duly dispatched the conversion. Newcastle therefore led their hosts 19-0 at the break.
The opening quarter of an hour of the second half followed the pattern of the closing stages of the first with very few moments to spark the game into life. However, Caldy evidently had come out with more intensity and were aggressively trying to put pressure on Newcastle's defence that it had not previously experienced. This sustained pressure eventually told on the 58th minute mark, when to the delight of the majority at Paton Field, Dan Rabbette was able to round off a great team move under the posts before converting his own try.
Unfortunately for Caldy this great moment came at a cost as their number five Tom Saunders was injured in the build-up. He received applause from around the ground as he was stretchered off, a big blow for the home side. This was then compounded moments after the restart as Falcons secured their bonus point with winger Nathan Greenwood finished a quick break on the left, ending any real hopes of a complete fightback from the hosts.
The scoring spree did not stop there though as Caldy refused to back down and responded straight away to Greenwood's score by adding to their side of the scoreboard once again.
This was the pick of any of their attacking moves throughout the game, with a fast break down the right with inch-perfect offloads resulting in another great moment for the Championship sides' supporters. This time it was replacement scrum-half Ollie Wynn rounding off the move near to the right corner, this however causing a difficult conversion attempt to be scuffed by Rabbette.
The final icing on the cake did come in the closing minutes for the visitors as another breathtakingly sharp move from the Premiership sides backs led to Jack Metcalf offloading to Adam Radwan to go over in the right corner of the field. The kicking of fly-half Brett Connon had been phenomenal all game and he made it four out of five conversions with another wonderful kick from a tight angle to make it 33-12 to the visitors.
Caldy: 12
TRIES: 2 (Rabette 58', Wynn 67')
CONVERSIONS: 1 (Rabette 58')
PENALTIES: 0
DROP GOALS: 0
YELLOW CARDS: 0
RED CARDS: 0
15. Charlie Hyde, 14. Michael Cartmill, 13. Michael Barlow, 12. Connor Wilkinson, 11. Louis Beer, 10. Lewis Barker, 9. Jacob Tansey; 1. Monty Weatherby, 2. Ollie Hearn, 3. Ryan Higginson, 4. Sam Dickinson, 5. Tom Saunders, 6. Sam Olyott, 7. Callum Ridgway, 8. JJ Dickinson (c).
Replacements
16. Matt Gallagher, 17. Adam Aigbokhae, 18. Joe Sproston, 19. Freddie Stevenson, 20. Tom Parry, 21. Ollie Wynn, 22. Dan Rabbette, 23. Jacob Mitchell.
Newcastle Falcons:
TRIES: 5 (Spencer 4', O'Sullivan 7', Lockwood 40', Greenwood 64', Radwan 76')
CONVERSIONS: 4 (Connon 7', 40', 64', 76')
PENALTIES: 0
DROP GOALS: 0
YELLOW CARDS: 0
RED CARDS: 0
15. Ethan Grayson, 14. Alex Hearle, 13. Oli Spencer, 12. Cameron Hutchinson, 11. Nathan Greenwood, 10. Brett Connon, 9. Hugh O'Sullivan; 1. Murray McCallum, 2. Bryan Byrne, 3. Luan de Bruin, 4. Sebastian de Chaves, 5. Kiran McDonald, 6. Adam Scott, 7, Ollie Leatherbarrow, 8. Freddie Lockwood.
Replacements
16. Ollie Fletcher, 17. Mike Rewcastle, 18. Callum Hancock, 19. John Kelly, 20. Josh Bainbridge, 21. Max Pepper, 22. Jack Metcalf, 23. Adam Radwan.
Five Talking Points
- Newcastle boss happy with the team's performance
Falcons Head Coach Steve Diamond was pleased with how his side played in their opening game in the Premiership Cup fixture, not just winning but ensuring a bonus point victory in the process. It is only Newcastle's second win of the season in all competitions, but they will hope that this will give them confidence to win more often going forward."
Speaking to Falcons' media after the game he said, "It was a highly competitive game but there was a little bit of difference in size and speed, with being fully professional and playing in the competition we do."
2. Caldy show spirit despite defeat
The Championship side made life very difficult for Newcastle at times during both halves and provided a couple of the match's most eye-catching moves to score twice. It highlighted that a second-tier side can provide any of England's elite problems, especially with many missing international players.
The hope for the home side will be that an encouraging performance against a team in the division above will bring with it the form and confidence to get their first win of the season in the near future.
3. Newcastle's backs were too sharp for their opposition
The speed and guile of the Falcon's backs was far too much to handle for Caldy on multiple occasions throughout the game. Their box kicks and intricate offloads were easy on the eye when it clicked and created many opportunities out of nothing.
The two starting wingers, Nathan Greenwood and Alex Hearle, provided blistering pace on the flanks and they were ably backed up by the centres and the two half-backs- Cannon and O'Sullivan.
4. Concern for Caldy after Sanders injury
An issue for the hosts will be dealing with the loss of an important member of their second row after Tom Sanders was stretchered off in the second half. The imposing number five was injured in the build-up to Clady's first try and will no doubt be a major loss if out for a along time.
He was involved in a lot of the good work Caldy did early on in the second period and the side seemed to lose the ability to pressure Newcastle as much once he left the field of play. They will hope that his recovery period will not be as long as their fans will fear.
5. Falcons were unable to keep Caldy out
Although for large parts of the game Newcastle were dominant, and the final score reflects that, they will be concerned that their hosts did score twice and could have potentially ended with more than just the 12 points.
Newcastle have struggled so far again this season and although they did produce some Premiership-quality play, they still looked quite vulnerable at times defensively. This will probably be punished in the league against more well-established opponents.
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