Sport

Connacht blown away by Falcons

Connacht Eagles 3 Newcastle Falcons 34: CONNACHT EAGLES are still looking for their first British and Irish Cup win after Dean…

Sat Oct 20 2012 - 01:00

Connacht Eagles 3 Newcastle Falcons 34:CONNACHT EAGLES are still looking for their first British and Irish Cup win after Dean Richards Newcastle scored six tries against them at Dubarry Park last night.

Connachts second string was dominated by a more powerful English side who built victory on their vastly superior scrum.

The visitors hit the front after just three minutes when prop Oliver Tomaszczyk positioned himself at the back of a rolling maul after Jimmy Gopperth had turned down a kickable penalty, opting instead to kick for the corner.

Tadhg Leader kept the Eagles in touch with a penalty after 14 minutes, but four minutes later, in a carbon copy of their opening try, Scotland international Ally Hogg went over for a 10-3 lead.

READ MORE

Gopperth rounded off a set lineout move under the posts for the Falcons’ third try in the 28th minute and converted to give Newcastle a 17-3 lead at the break.

The championship side had to deal without hooker Rob Vickers for the first ten minutes of the second-half after his sin-binning on the half-time whistle. But once Brian Murphy joined him on the sidelines in the 45th minute, Newcastle immediately took advantage and sealed a bonus point when Alex Tait scored in the corner.

And Andy Higgins made sure of the win soon after, while a penalty try late on was just reward for the dominant scrum.

CONNACHT EAGLES: M Jarvis; S Layden, B Murphy, T Leader, S MacAuley; J Carty, M Walsh; F Bealham, K OByrne, R Ah You; M Kearney, D Qualter; TJ Anderson, E Grace, D Heffernan. Replacements: J Gardiner for Qualter (7-17 blood), D Leader for Jarvis (53), P Reilly for OByrne (67), JP Cooney for Ah You (67), A Conneely for Anderson (67), J Gardiner for Bealham (73).

NEWCASTLE FALCONS: A Tait; A Higgins, A Crockett, T Tuipulotu, T Catterick; J Gopperth, R Lawson; J Golding, R Vickers, O Tomaszczyk; C del Fava, S MacLeod; R Mayhew, W Welsh, A Hogg. Replacements: M Mayhew for R Mayhew (42 temp), M Wilson for R Mayhew (53), W Fury for Lawson (53), M Mayhew for Vickers (61), S Tomes for del Fava (61), J Hodgson for Crockett (61), S Wilson for Tomaszczyk (67), S Hufanga for Higgins (67).

Referee: James Bessant (WRU).