When you are down and in need of luck, fate usually spits in your face. London Irish, without a win here in the Premiership since March 2016, were 6-3 ahead after 22 minutes and looking reasonably comfortable when Newcastle scored a try after appearing to knock the ball on. From then on it was a downhill slide for the club at the bottom of the table.
There are a number of grey areas in the game and one of them is the ball coming loose after a tackle and bouncing forward: is it lost by the ball-carrier or ripped from his grasp by the tackler? When the Newcastle centre Chris Harris lost possession on Irish’s 22, the home side responded as if they had advantage from a knock-on but when Tom Fowlie’s kick was charged down, play continued and Alex Tait only had to pick up the ball to score.
Three minutes later, Tait celebrated his second try after finishing a move that started in the Newcastle 22. Sonatane Takulua escaped from Greig Tonks’s tackle too easily and made his way over the halfway line before appearing to take the wrong option by ignoring the support outside him. Such was the disarray in Irish’s defence however that when the ball eventually reached Juan Pablo Socino, the centre had time to place his kick for Tait to pick up and score.
Newcastle had not won in the league here since 2009 and had to endure a seven-hour coach ride to Reading after their Friday flight to Heathrow was cancelled, but while Irish dealt in penalties, the Falcons traded in tries. Their third, with the last play of the opening half, gave them a 20-9 interval lead as the bounce again went against Irish.
James Marshall was ushering Tait’s kick over his goal-line when it took a diversion towards touch and he had to concede a lineout. When Newcastle turned it into a maul, the home captain, Mike Coman, was sent to the sin-bin for collapsing it. The second lineout was legally repelled but the Falcons, inspired by Toby Flood, were adept at finding space behind and worked the ball to the left where Vereniki Goneva trampled through Tonks.
Newcastle were on course for their fourth away league victory this season and their 12th out of 22 in the Premiership in 2017, which is European Champions Cup-qualifying form. While Irish matched them at forward, edging the scrum, they gave themselves fewer options in possession, struggled to make much of turnover ball and were far too slow to react where their opponents, prompted by their half-backs, scented opportunity.
It was the London Irish wing Joe Cokanasiga’s 10th start of the season in all competitions but he has yet to score a try. Cokanasiga had a couple of early runs, but a player who was chosen by England in the summer as one of Eddie Jones’s speculative punts, was largely a spectator for the final hour, with the home side struggling to achieve width even from set-pieces as Harris and Socino read their moves.
Cokanasiga’s international prospects have dimmed this season, but it was the Newcastle open-side flanker Gary Graham’s first appearance since being called into England’s training squad. The 25-year old, who played for Scotland Under-20s, is more of a Chris Robshaw than a breakaway, in contrast to his opposite number, Max Northcote-Green, who set up Tonks’s second penalty by collaring Mark Wilson after chasing a 60-metre kick, and reflected his side’s best qualities.
A few seasons ago, Irish might have had enough to survive but more tries and points are being scored now. Their wings touched the ball seven times between them, compared to the Newcastle pair’s 28, and for all the home side’s possession in the second period, they were only worth a losing bonus point. It was delivered through two more penalties from Tonks with the Falcons held up over the line in between, but they need far more.
Gloucester 20-16 Sale
A strong second-half performance earned Gloucester a deserved 20-16 win over Sale Sharks at a sold-out Kingsholm. The victory avenged Gloucester’s 57-10 thrashing in September, although it had looked in doubt when the hosts trailed 9-7 at half-time.
AJ MacGinty scored all Sale’s points with a try, a conversion and three penalties, but tries from David Halaifonua and Ben Vellacott and 10 points from the boot of Billy Twelvetrees edged Gloucester over the line.
MacGinty kicked Sale into a 6-0 lead after a disjointed first quarter, before Charlie Sharples enlivened proceedings with a thrilling 55-metre run deep into Sale territory. Gloucester declined a penalty in favour of an attacking scrum and it proved the correct call as Halaifonua squeezed over in the corner. Twelvetrees fired over the touchline conversion before Sale’s Josh Strauss departed with a shoulder injury, though his side still led 9-7 at the interval after MacGinty’s third penalty.
Gloucester had the best of the play after the restart and once their pack had battered the line with a number of lineout drives, Vellacott spotted an opportunity to dart over. Within three minutes Sale responded with their first try. From a lineout on the home 22, Faf de Klerk burst away to feed MacGinty, who brushed aside some weak tackling to force his way over. The hosts’ strength in depth told late in the match, and two 50-metre Twelvetrees penalties sealed victory.
“We want to play exciting rugby but we needed to look after the ball better,” said the Gloucester head coach, Johan Ackermann. “Our error count was high and our discipline poor.”
Faf was man of the match, he brings what people want to see,” said Sale’s director of rugby, Steve Diamond. “It was always going to be tight and the first half went very well but we didn’t take our chances. We gave away silly penalties and the pitch was heavy. We are not used to playing on a surface like that and it sapped our energy levels.” PA
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