Leicester climb away from relegation spot with clutch win
Leicester eased their relegation fears and left Newcastle rooted at the bottom of the Gallagher Premiership with a narrow 27-22 win at Kingston Park.
The result went right down to the wire with the Falcons edging towards the Leicester line right at the death only to concede a turnover penalty which saw the Tigers hang on for what could be Premiership safety.
The Tigers dominated much of the first half and led 13-0 after 25 minutes.
The match did not start well for the Falcons with Toby Flood’s kick off going straight into touch and at the scrum on halfway Rodney Ah You was penalised. George Ford kicked the penalty for 3-0 to the visitors after less than two minutes.
Ford dominated the opening exchanges with some excellent kicking to keep Newcastle penned in their own half and the pressure paid off when back row Guy Thompson broke two tackles.
His back-of-the-hand offload sent Jonny May on a typical weaving run for a try which was converted by Ford to make it 10-0 in the 16th minute.
Ford added a 24th-minute penalty when Mike Williams hammered Flood in the tackle and Gary Graham went straight over the ball off his feet. It could have been 16-0 four minutes later when Ah You stupidly pushed Ellis Genge, but Ford’s kick hit the post.
But then Newcastle dragged themselves back into the match with two tries in three minutes.
A brilliant counter-attacking run from Simon Hammersley from deep in his own half into the Tigers 22 saw Tane Takulua find George McGuigan in support and his brilliant offload sent in Chris Harris for the try which was converted by Takulua.
Then a Mark Smith pick up at the base of the scrum in his own half saw the number eight release Niki Goneva who stepped Jordan Olowofela and raced down the right.
Goneva then found Takulua inside him and the scrum-half held off the high challenge of Ford to score in the corner and make it 13-12 in the 35th minute.
Newcastle started the second half with some early pressure but they presented Leicester with their second try in the 47th minute when Thompson intercepted Flood’s pass and raced in from halfway. Ford converted to make it 20-12.
Flood’s decision to got to the corner with a kickable penalty paid off when the Falcons drove for the line and Mike Williams was sin-binned for pulling down the maul.
There was an argument for a penalty try but Newcastle were awarded a penalty and Mark Wilson opted for the scrum. His pick up at the base and drive over led to the Falcons’ third try.
Takulua converted but only after referee Wayne Barnes ordered the kick re-taken when the Tigers charged too early.
That made it 20-19 and then a late tackle by Genge on Flood saw Takulua kick the penalty for Newcastle to lead 22-20 in the 62nd minute.
The lead did not last long with Thompson driven over from a line-out for his second try.
Ford’s conversion made it 27-22 with the crowd voicing their disapproval over how long it took for the kick to be taken.
It looked as if May had sealed the deal with a 72nd-minute try from Ford’s cross kick but the referee ruled that Genge had obstructed Hammersley as he went for the ball and the penalty allowed the Falcons to clear.
With the clock running down, Newcastle hammered away to win a penalty after 26 attacking phases.
They went to the corner with the penalty and looked to have driven Graham over but the referee decided it was held up and awarded Tigers the put in at the scrum.
But when the scrum collapsed, it was a penalty to Newcastle, who took it quickly and then did so again when another penalty went their way.
But with the clock red, Leicester the won a turnover penalty on their line to all but ensure Premiership survival.
Newcastle 22 (Chris Harris, Sonatane Takulua 2 tries; Takulua 2 con, pen) Leicester 27 (Johnny May, Guy Thompson 2 tries; George Ford 3 con, 2 pen). HT:12-13.
Comments on RugbyPass
Ever so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to comments