The Falcons Development Team grabbed its second away win in the space of seven days at Sixways on Monday, racking up a five tries to one Guinness A League victory at Worcester Warriors.
The match saw former Worcester and Hawks fly half Tommy Hayes in Newcastle colours as he tries out with the Falcons, the 32-year-old kicking two conversions on the night as a young side built on last Monday's win at Sale Sharks with ten tries in two games.
Academy manager Richard Metcalf said afterwards: “That was a very satisfying all-round performance with good contributions right across the field.

“A number of lads came in to the side for their first starts and did well, like Pete Browne at No.8 and Ben Mercer in the centres. We controlled much of the game, had Worcester in their own half for a lot of the evening and scored five good tries for the second game in a row.

“We spoke before the game and at half time about our specific objectives, like not giving away silly penalties, and I was happy with the way the team carried out the plan.”

After a nip-and-tuck start the Falcons took the slenderest of leads in to the interval at 12-11 following Browne's brace of first-half tries.

Worcester fullback Jamie Lennard had got the scoring underway nine minutes in after an early monster of a clearance punt from triallist Hayes.

The Cook Islander's high restart was claimed back by his own team before a 30-metre rolling maul was held up over the line – the resulting scrum seeing Browne score with a pick-and-go from the base.

Hayes converted, but Worcester took an 8-7 lead through centre Greg King as he reacted quickest to the ball flying out the back of a ruck on the Falcons line.

Hayes' boot kept Newcastle in Worcester territory, and it was from another of his booming kicks that Browne grabbed the second try, breaking free from a rolling maul on the 22 to race over the line.

Hayes' touchline conversion attempt just held up in the wind to drop centimetres short of the crossbar, but the last say of the half was to go the way of the Warriors as Lennard struck over a penalty from 30 metres to get his side to within a point.

In a rain-lashed opening to the second half the Falcons pressed with a rolling maul right on the Worcester line before fullback Alex Tait crossed for the third try in the left corner following good hands from Hayes, James Hamer and Tom Dillon.

Hayes smashed the conversion over from the left touch line despite the fierce wind blowing in to his face, while the Falcons turned down numerous kickable penalties in search of the fourth bonus point try.

Only a dogged home defence stemmed the tide as the visitors camped themselves in the Worcester half, Hayes leaving the field with five minutes left for replacement Charles Raynor.

Right wing Hamer finally broke through the Worcester line in the closing minutes as he exploitd a two-on-one to dive over in the right corner, Raynor adding the touch line conversion via the left upright.

But there was still time for a fifth try courtesy of centre Dillon as Ross Batty's winding run and offload allowed Dillon's straightening line to open up the defence, Raynor's conversion ending the scoring as the final whistle sounded straight after.

This article was posted on 12-Dec-2006, 23:24 by Hugh Barrow.