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The 'tough little character' who epitomised why Newcastle were good
Newcastle boss Dave Walder hailed his side’s reaction – and the impact of Mateo Carreras – after last week’s defeat to Worcester as they claimed their first win of the Gallagher Premiership season with a 30-15 victory over Bristol. A brace from Carreras at either end of the match alongside tries from front row forwards Connor Collett and George McGuigan gave Falcons a well-deserved win under the lights at Kingston Park on Friday.
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The hosts were 17-3 ahead at the break thanks to three first-half tries but had to weather a second-half storm from the Bears, who sought to make up for their slow start with tries from Henry Purdy and Richard Lane. But the home side held on, with Argentine speedster Carreras grabbing a bonus-point try with the clock in the red.
It left Walder pleased with what he saw after the disappointment of last weekend, which saw the Falcons lose 39-5 to financially troubled Worcester. “We spoke through the week that the performance last week wasn’t to the standard that we expect here and we wanted to make sure that we gave an 80-minute performance, which we did today.
“From the moment that Brett Connon pulled out this morning we knew that we would be up against it, but we managed to stem the tide. A couple of minutes after we got back up to 15 men we were able to launch a platform for attacking and kept the ball on the right side of halfway.”
Falcons welcomed Argentine duo Matias Orlando and Matias Moroni in midfield, with the duo both starting at centre despite only arriving in the UK from international duty on Monday. Walder was pleased with the immediate impact of his Pumas, alongside the electric performance from Newcastle winger Carreras.
That's how you seal a victory and add the bonus point for @FalconsRugby! ?
Newcastle wrap up their first win of the season in style! ?#GallagherPrem pic.twitter.com/hOaGLcaUku
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) September 30, 2022
“It makes a real difference bringing in two international centres and then adding onto the wing Carreras and it’s a great backline,” he added. “He [Carreras] is a tough little character and he probably epitomised why we were good tonight.”
While Walder hailed his side, Bears boss Pat Lam slammed his team’s error-strewn performance. Bristol looked little like the side who went into the match top of the Gallagher Premiership table, and Lam believes his charges only have themselves to blame. “It was a disappointing night for us,” admitted Lam.
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“I have to say though that Newcastle were absolutely phenomenal tonight. I’m pleased for Dave Walder and his team tonight. If you aren’t there mentally then you are always going to find it a struggle. We just made so many errors that were punished by Newcastle. I’m not sure what the turnover count was tonight, but it wasn’t good.
“We got ourselves back into the game and within two points, but then again it’s another mistake that costs us just when we are getting a little bit of momentum going our way.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Are the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
2 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver 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
2 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 Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 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!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 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.
30 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.
30 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to comments