Falcons Hold On As It Goes To The Wire
The Rugby Paper|December 24, 2017

Falcons Hold On As It Goes To The Wire

Alan Hedley
Falcons Hold On As It Goes To The Wire

NEWCASTLE’S second biggest crowd of the season were handed an early Christmas present when the Falcons hung on for a one-point win over Harlequins.

“Nobody was going home early,” said Falcons director of rugby Dean Richards after Harlequins almost clawed their way back from being 11-0 down at half time to be just one point adrift and come close to snatching victory in a frantic second half.

Vereniki Goneva’s 16th minute try and two Sonatane Takulua penalties gave Falcons an 11-0 half time lead but it never looked quite enough in the swirling wind which favoured Quins after the break.

And when Quins hit back through a 44th minute Mike Brown try with Marcus Smith converting and adding a penalty in the 67th minute, the lead was a slender 11-10 to set up a pulsating finish.

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