Falcons soar over Wasps
Fly-half Jimmy Gopperth kicked 19 points to fire Newcastle to a comeback win over London Wasps at Kingston Park.
Last Updated: 10/09/10 10:19pm
Fly-half Jimmy Gopperth kicked 19 points to fire Newcastle to a comeback win over London Wasps at Kingston Park.
Things had looked good for the visitors, as tries from Tom Varndell and Ben Jacobs, plus seven points from Mark van Gisbergen's boot, moved them into a 17-3 lead after 27 minutes.
But the game turned on its head as the Falcons scored 26 unanswered points.
Redford Pennycook and Tim Swinson claimed close-range tries and Jimmy Gopperth added four penalties and two conversions to an earlier three-pointer.
There was little indication of what was to come early on.
Van Gisbergen's penalty attempt drifted wide but Varndell's superb chase saw him beat a dawdling trio of players to touch down.
Van Gisbergen made no mistake with the conversion for a 7-0 lead after just two minutes.
Walder then fell just short with a long-range fifth-minute penalty before the hosts finally entered the opposition half after 12 minutes when Young, back in the side after being on the bench last week, pounced on loose ball at a Wasps scrum to send Luke Eves and Charlie Amesbury down the left flank with a lovely flick pass.
The Wasps scramble defence infringed and Gopperth, another man returning to the starting XV, stepped up to trim the lead to four points.
But the visitors quickly hit back with a superbly-worked try. Richard Haughton's wonderful one-handed pick-up saw him break from his own 10-metre line down the left and link with Varndell. The ball was moved inside to Tom Rees and Simon Shaw, with centre Jacobs applying the finishing touch. It took a crunching cover tackle from Newcastle wing Gcobani Bobo to prevent Haughton claiming another try as the visitors threatened to cut loose.
Despite that missed chance the visitors increased their stranglehold with a Van Gisbergen penalty on the half-hour mark after Newcastle had collapsed a scrum.
Respond
Newcastle needed to respond quickly and they did, as Pennycook burrowed over after a series of pick and drives close to the Wasps line to mark his first start for his new club with a try, converted by Gopperth.
And the deficit was soon back down to four points when Gopperth landed a three-pointer from halfway, after Wasps prop Tim Payne turned in at a scrum.
The home side began the second half brightly as Young launched an enterprising counter-attack in combination with Ally Hogg and Amesbury, only for the winger to knock on as the cover drew in.
But Haughton's woeful pass in front of his own posts kept the hosts in the Wasps 22 and more close-range work saw lock Swinson crash over under the posts, Gopperth adding the easy conversion to give Newcastle the lead for the first time in the match at 20-17.
Gopperth doubled the lead shortly afterwards with his third penalty and from being in control at 17-3 up, Wasps were rocking.
Poor discipline continued to hamper the visitors and Gopperth added two further penalties to seal a first win in charge for new Falcons coach Alan Tait
