Newcastle Falcons 15 London Wasps 10: Gopperth kicks life back into struggling Newcastle

After 11 consecutive Aviva Premiership defeats, Newcastle finally lifted the gloom with a hard-earned win over Wasps at Kingston Park.

Their long run dated back to their relegation tussle with Leeds Carnegie, in which they only prevailed due to a superior points difference.

Fly-half Jimmy Gopperth was successful with all five of his penalty attempts to boot the struggling Tynesiders to victory.

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Wasps’ Christian Wade scored the game’s only try but his side were unable to build on it as a spirited Falcons defence stood firm.

Newcastle got off to a cracking start as Gopperth led a second-minute counter-attack, chipping into the 22 and then landing the penalty when Wasps infringed.

The visitors were quick to respond through winger Tom Varndell, who put in a grubber kick to the corner to cause momentary panic, but the opening try came soon afterwards on the other flank.

There looked to be nothing on when Wade got possession from broken play but the speedy wing side-stepped his opposite number and scooted down the touchline in the sixth minute to cross for a fine effort.

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Fly-half Ryan Davis put over the simple conversion but was off target with a long-distance penalty attempt shortly afterwards.

Gopperth then pulled back the Falcons’ deficit to just one point with a penalty from wide out but Wasps retained the impetus and had the Newcastle line under threat when Davis found a delightful touch near the flag. The line-out ball bobbled dangerously for the Falcons but eventually full-back Alex Tait was able to clear upfield.

A second Davis penalty attempt fell short of the woodwork as the game meandered towards the interval with little in the way of constructive play until, with two minutes remaining, the Falcons raised their game and were rewarded with another three-pointer from Gopperth.

Skipper James Hudson gathered in at a lineout, and a driving maul was on its way into the 22 when Wasps pulled it down and Gopperth’s kick made it 9-7 at the break.

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Newcastle made a brighter start to the second period, increasing their lead on 46 minutes. Varndell was caught in possession attempting to run it from his 22, and a hasty clearance made touch. The Falcons secured the line-out ball and when Wasps strayed offside, Gopperth stepped up to maintain his 100 per cent kicking record.

When the visitors worked their way upfield, lock forwards Richard Birkett and Ross Filipo combined well to drive into the home 22. The Falcons infringed and Davis had no difficulty with the short-range penalty but at the other end, Gopperth put over a similar effort to restore the Falcons’ five-point advantage.

With time running out and the Falcons scenting a long overdue Premiership victory they grabbed the initiative once more, with Hudson leading the way from a line-out midway in the visitors’ half.

They pushed the Wasps back in the tight and then at a scrum, and when the visitors did break out in an extended final play Chris Bell was comprehensively bundled into touch to resounding applause.

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Bath backs coach Brad Davis singled out former Leeds winger Tom Biggs for his two moments of inspiration that unlocked the Leicester defence in a nerve-wracking 26-25 victory at the Recreation Ground on Saturday.

Dave Attwood and Matt Carraro were the players who eventually touched down but Davis was full of praise for Biggs’s contribution after a lame 22-6 defeat at Gloucester a week previously.

“He did have a big game – probably his his best of the season,” said Davis. “If he gets the ball in open play, he’s a very dangerous runner.

“We had a chat together during the week about how we could get him more involved. If he does get the ball at speed he’s a hard man to stop.”

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Bath sneaked victory through Tom Heathcote’s penalty late on – but would have lost out if Leicester try-scorer Jeremy Staunton had added to his 25-point haul with a last-minute penalty.

“The performance and the end result is the direct outcome of all the work we’ve put in over the last week.”

Harlequins, making their best start to a season since 1996, defeated Sale 46-41 and looked capable of recording a total of 60 points or more heading into the last 10 minutes.

However, Sale centre Will Addison took a bang on the head and needed 10 minutes treatment before leaving the action on a stretcher.

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O’Shea said: “That’s when we switched off. That’s when we simply failed to get back to top gear while Sale, credit to them, took full advantage and taught us a lesson.

“Sometimes it’s tempting to look at how this type of game finishes and forget what went before. We played some wonderful rugby in very hot conditions and I was thrilled by our style and finishing.

“I’m annoyed we gave Sale two points in the end, but they worked so hard at the end and we simply lost momentum.”

Sale revealed Addison took a bang to the back of his head and went for an X-ray but was not considered to be seriously hurt. England prop Andrew Sheridan, however, had shoulder surgery on Friday and is out until February.

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Gloucester extended their unbeaten Premiership home record to 22 games as a penalty from replacement Freddie Burns saw them edge a thrilling six-try encounter at Kingsholm 33-30 against London Irish.

The Cherry and Whites had looked well on course for victory after opening a 23-10 advantage late in the first half thanks in part to Tom Voyce’s score and a penalty try.

But Irish, who had claimed the opening try through Alex Gray in the first minute, hit back as Topsy Ojo and Steve Shingler went over to help them establish a 27-23 lead.

Hooker Darren Dawidiuk responded with the hosts’ third try and Tim Taylor kicked 15 points, but it was a penalty from Burns which eventually sealed the win after Exiles full-back Tom Homer, who scored 15 points of his own, had tied the scores with his third penalty.

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Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall savoured a hard-earned 17-13 victory against Exeter at Sandy Park.

Tries from Owen Farrell and Charlie Hodgson helped earn the reigning Premiership champions’ a third victory on the road this season which was enough to keep them in second place.

“This was a big victory for us,” said McCall. “Exeter are one of the best teams in the competition at the moment and we knew that we had to master their physicality.

“We took our chances when they came along so it was a good win.

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“We knew that we had to bounce back from the defeat at London Wasps but since then we’ve had three difficult away games at Bath, Leicester and now Exeter.

“They have all been very different games and last week we threw the ball about a bit and won in a certain way.”