| Newcastle: (10) 17 |
| Tries: Radwan, Obatoyinbo Pen: Connon Cons: Connon 2 |
| Gloucester: (12) 12 |
| Tries: Blake, Thorley Con: Carreras |
Impressive Newcastle survived an early red card to beat Gloucester 17-12 and all-but end the visitors’ hopes of reaching the Premiership play-offs.
Seb Blake and Adam Radwan traded tries before the Falcons had Richard Palframan sent off for a high tackle.
Ollie Thorley put Gloucester ahead before Brett Connon’s penalty kept the score within two.
And Elliott Obatoyinbo’s try then put the hosts in front to give Newcastle their first win in five league games.
It was the Falcons’ first win since 7 January and their first with Mark Laycock in charge, after director of rugby Dave Walder stepped down last week.
Gloucester took away a losing bonus point but stay ninth in the table after what was a must-win game. They can now only reach 55 points, which effectively ends their chance of making the semi-finals – with all the clubs above them still to play each other.
The visitors struck first through Blake from close range, as Seb Atkinson charged down a clearance to turn over possession right by the Falcons try-line.
Free-flowing, end-to-end action followed with Newcastle’s fast men taking advantage of some slow Gloucester defence. Obatoyinbo ran from his own half into space out wide, darted in circles as the visitors’ defence scrambled, before offloading for Radwan to dive over in the corner.
Yet when Palframan was shown a red card for a shoulder to head tackle, Newcastle’s gameplan was severely hindered and Gloucester instantly scored.
The Cherry and Whites diverted from their usual line-out and driving maul to throw the ball long in the set-piece, from which Thorley powered over between two tacklers.
Still, they saw multiple chances go begging. Radwan produced the play of the day, racing back from distance to tap the ball down and deny Thorley a sure-fire second score, and Jordy Reid then had a try ruled for a knock-on in the build-up. Brett Connon’s penalty on half-time kept Newcastle right in the game.
In the pouring rain at Kingston Park, Newcastle continued to stifle Gloucester’s misfiring attack for 20 minutes of the second period before Obatoyinbo deservedly put them in front.
Having heaped pressure on the Gloucester try-line, Connon’s crossfield kick picked out the full-back to score his first Premiership try.
It just was not to be for a frustrated Gloucester, Wales winger Louis Rees-Zammit dropping the ball as his side pushed for a late try, and Cameron Jordan losing possession two metres from the line right at the death.
Newcastle: Obatoyinbo, Radwan, Moroni, Orlando, Carreras, Connon, Young (c); Brocklebank, Blamire, Palframan, Peterson, De Chaves, Rubiolo, Chick, Fearns.
Replacements: Fletcher, Mulipola, Tampin, Lockwood, Marshall, Stuart, Thomas, Stevenson.
Red card: Richard Palframan (16 mins).
Gloucester: Evans, Rees-Zammit, Harris, Atkinson, Thorley, Carreras, Varney; Elrington, Blake, Gotovtsev, Clarke, Alemanno, Reid, Ludlow (c), Ackermann.
Replacements: Walker, Vivas, Ford-Robinson, Jordan, Clement, Chapman, Twelvetrees, Seabrook.
Referee: Adam Leal
