Newcastle finish miserable season winless as Gloucester bounce back
Newcastle finished the Gallagher Premiership season without a single win as Gloucester were convincing 54-14 winners in Saturday’s finale at Kingsholm.
As a result, Falcons followed in the footsteps of Rotherham in 2003/04 and London Welsh 2014/15, who also failed to record victories in a league season and this latest reverse left Falcons with a mere five points from their 18 league fixtures.
After last week’s 90-0 humiliation at the hands of Northampton, Gloucester were mightily relieved to finish on the winning side but it still was not enough for them to avoid statistically their worst-ever Premiership season.
Zach Mercer, Chris Harris, Charlie Atkinson, Ollie Thorley, Seb Blake, Jonny May, Alex Hearle, and Josh Hathaway scored their tries with Caolan Englefield converting five. Stephen Varney and Santiago Socino each added a conversion.
Jamie Blamire and Matias Moroni scored Newcastle’s tries, both of which Brett Connon converted.
Newcastle began brightly but it was their opponents who opened the scoring. Their first attack saw acres of space created for Charlie Atkinson to race into the visitors’ 22 from where Mercer was on hand to force his way over.
Englefield converted before Gloucester scored an excellent second try. Deep inside his own half, Harris chipped ahead for Hathaway to collect before returning the ball to Harris, who ran 35 metres to the line.
Minutes later, Newcastle’s early woes continued when the hosts took advantage of a couple of favourable bounces for Atkinson to win the race to touchdown, with a third conversion from Englefield giving Gloucester a 21-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Newcastle needed a swift response and got one when Blamire finished off a driving line-out but Gloucester soon picked up their bonus-point try when a break from Englefield set up Thorley.
However, Falcons kept in contention at half-time with a try from Moroni but they still trailed 26-14 at the interval.
A minute after the restart, Gloucester extended that advantage when Blake crashed over from a driving line-out before May celebrated his final home appearance for the club with his side’s sixth to extinguish any Newcastle’s hopes of a shock result.
Ahead of next week’s European Challenge Cup final against the Sharks, Gloucester replaced some of their leading lights, with skipper Lewis Ludlow and impressive scrum-half Englefield both departing as Argentina hooker Socino came on for his final appearance at Kingsholm.
Socino brought the crowd to their feet with a 30-metre burst before Falcons lock Tim Cardall was sin-binned with eight minutes remaining.
The home side immediately capitalised with a try from Hearle and then another from Hathaway to emphasize their superiority over a spirited but limited Newcastle.
Latest Comments
Good improvement Razor, still too many players selected who qualify through residency. Cut it out. There is a long list of NZ loose forwards and outside backs. Pick them. You are therefore still the PACIFIC LIONS (17.4%) 2024 1. Aniseto Ofa He Moori Tu ungafasi - Nuku alofa, Tonga 2. Emoni Narawa - Suva, Fiji 3. Sevuloni Lasei Reece - Nadi, Fiji 4. Samipeni Finau - Tonga (Not counting Ethan de Groot, Tyrel Lomax and Finlay Christie that could take up to 30%) 2022/3 Mix. 1. Samisoni Frank Simpson Taukei aho - Tongatapu, Tonga 2. Nepo Eti Laulala - Moto otua, Samoa 3. Aniseto Ofa He Moori Tu ungafasi - Nuku alofa, Tonga 4. Leicester Ofa Ki Wales Twickenham Fainga anuku - Nuku alofa, Tonga 5. Emoni Narawa - Suva, Fiji 6. Shannon Michael Frizell - Folaha, Tonga 7. Sevuloni Lasei Reece - Nadi, Fiji 8. Pita Gus Sowakula - Lautoka, Fiji 9. Folau Fakatava - Nukuʻalofa, Tonga
Go to commentsIs Bidwell just trolling or does he actually not watch any rugby? England were bronze medalists in the World Cup last year and changed their game up after a poor 6N start to beat Ireland (who improved massively since the 1/4 final loss) and almost beat France with some very nice running rugby. How are they not a massive challenge for a brand new ABs side on ten days prep? Bidwell offers no ideas on what this weak backline of ours should look like either. And how on earth are the Boks the yardstick? According to Bidwell, they only beat a mediocre English team and a not very good All Blacks team by 1 point each. Can’t be very good if they only beat the weak teams by one point.
Go to comments