Falcons pass French test

A strong second-half display saw Newcastle rally to beat Montauban 17-6 and maintain their 100 percent record in Pool Five of the Amlin Challenge Cup.

The Falcons headed in trailing 6-3 at the break after a rather lacklustre display in the opening 40 minutes.

But they upped their game after the restart and eventually ran out convincing winners with Alex Tait scoring the only try of the contest shortly before the hour mark.

Montauban made a bright start and were on the board inside two minutes as full back Johan Dalla Riva slotted a smart long-range drop-goal.

Struggling for rhythm early on, Newcastle hauled themselves on terms when the visiting pack was penalised allowing Jimmy Gopperth an easy shot at goal - the New Zealander kicking the first of his four penalties on the night.

The hosts then began to exert some pressure and, after Montauban had been pulled up for collapsing a maul, Newcastle looked well-placed to score after kicking to the corner to set up a dangerous line-out.

But, having won the line-out to set the perfect platform, Montauban flanker Romain Sazy somehow stole the ball from the ensuing rolling maul and launched a counter as the danger was cleared.

A great dart from Julien Audy saw the French scrum-half burst purposefully into the Newcastle 22, but the visitors blew the chance as they were caught going in over the top, leaving referee John Lacey to award a penalty to Newcastle.

But they edged back ahead on 31 minutes as Cedric Coll landed another long-range drop-goal having found himself starved of options some 35 metres from goal.

Much-improved

Both sides were guilty of a lack of quality, direction and cutting edge in the attacking third in the first-half, but Newcastle were much-improved after the break and dominated their opponents from the off.

Gopperth got them back on terms with his second penalty on 49 minutes and their dominance was rewarded on 56 minutes when Tait powered over after a smart back-line move to put the Guinness Premiership ahead for the first time - a lead they would not relinquish.

They turned the screw five minutes later when a fine run from Micky Young was crudely stopped by a high tackle from Scot Andrew Henderson who was shown a yellow card, Gopperth kicking the resulting penalty.

He extended his personal tally to 12 points with another regulation penalty shortly afterwards as the visitors were caught offside after a high-kick was knocked on by Dalla Riva.

Montauban did rouse themselves in the closing stages as first Charlie Amesbury and then man-of-the-match Young produced try-saving tackles on Adrien Figueiredo and Jean-Emmanuel Cassin respectively, and Newcastle held out to secure a hard-fought and rather scrappy victory.