London Irish obviously enjoy bracing September trips to the north-east coast of England. A fortnight ago they racked up 44 points at West Hartlepool. Yesterday the champions Newcastle were less predictably blown away in an astonishing finish at Gateshead.
Two minutes into stoppage time the Exiles, five points adrift, won a line-out and moved the ball swiftly to their right-wing Simon Berridge, who slipped a pass to his overlapping full-back Conor O'Shea. The Irish captain dived over to equalise in the corner.
O'Shea, regaining his breath, converted left-footed from the touchline - "I think the adrenalin had taken over by that stage" - the whistle blew moments later and Newcastle had suffered their first home league defeat since Wakefield won at Kingston Park in January 1996.
Indeed the Irish themselves had conceded 46 points there at the beginning of the year and needed to win relegation play-offs against Rotherham little more than four months ago to survive in this exalted company. They travelled north weakened by injuries and early in the second half were 1810 down when their regular kicker Niall Woods departed with an injured arm.
Until then they had scrapped and spoiled and given away countless penalties but after the interval Newcastle could manage only a penalty from Jonny Wilkinson while O'Shea's penalties chipped away at their lead. Newcastle resorted to pumping the ball aimlessly into the air via Wilkinson, Rob Andrew and Gary Armstrong and the Irish sniffed blood.
But Newcastle's real problem lay with their scrum. With Paul Van-Zandvliet injured and the South African Marius Hurter not due until November, they had to play two loose-heads. "We had a lot of problems in the scrum. Having no platform caused us to make mistakes elsewhere in the field," said Newcastle's captain Dean Ryan.
Paying tribute to the Irish he said: "London Irish were fired up. They're a tidy, abrasive outfit and they put us under a lot of scrutiny."
Newcastle are certainly not the side they were last season. They also missed the physical presence of Va'aiga Tuigamala in the centre, where Andrew is playing a holding role, and the departure of the flanker Pat Lam to Northampton leaves them short of another attacking option. The writing was on the wall as early as the 11th minute when Irish's 19-year-old scrum-half Kieran Campbell sniped over for a try from a scrum. Tony Underwood replied with a well-taken score after a perfectly weighted pass from Wilkinson but the 18th minute try was to be the only time the Exiles's line was breached.
Newcastle did score another try, a penalty try after the Irish had infringed once too often for the referee Ashley Rowden.
Van-Zandvliet will not play again this year, but Newcastle will soon have their Kiwi flanker Richard Arnold back after the death of his father in New Zealand. As usual, real life puts sporting problems in perspective.
Newcastle: Legg; Naylor, Shaw, Andrew, Underwood; Wilkinson, Armstrong; Popplewell, Nesdale, Graham, Archer, Weir, Walton, O'Neill, Ryan (capt). Replacement: Peel for Graham, 68 mins.
London Irish: O'Shea (capt); Berridge, Todd, Venter, Woods; Jones, Campbell; Rogers, Kirke, Hardwick Harvey, O'Kelly, Spicer, Dawson, Gallacher. Replacements: Burrows for Woods, 42 mins; Brown for Jones, 57 mins; Worsley for Rogers, 59 mins; Howe for Kirke 73 mins; Hardwick for Fullman, 66 mins
