Sarries make their point in Falcons defeat

Barring a calamitous performance at home to Sale Sharks on Saturday, the Men in Black will avoid the grim prospect of relegation and may even earn a place in the inaugural end of season Wildcard Play Offs.

Sarries opened and completed the scoring at Kingston Park on Sunday and came within an ace of snatching victory in a grandstand finish. However, they were left to rue a costly 11 minute spell shortly after the break which saw Newcastle plunder 19 unanswered points to wrap up the match and extend the Men in Black's miserable away form, a run that has seen them win just once on their travels in 15 months.

You had to go back even further for Sarries last victory at Kingston Park which came on their first ever visit in October 1994. Since then the Falcons have won the last five meetings between the two sides at the redeveloped ground and Rob Andrews' men were hot favourites to make it number six.

Buck Shelford, the Saracens head coach, made three changes to the side who recorded a narrow victory over Bristol five days earlier. England prop David Flatman made his first appearance since this year after recovering from a shoulder operation, Stuart Hooper replaced Craig Yandell in the second row while highly-rated number eight Ben Skirving came in for only his second start.

Both sides, with the threat of relegation still looming large, began nervously on a blustery afternoon in the North East. Andy Goode's erratic form with the boot continued as he squandered a penalty and then compunded his error by missing the target with an attempted drop goal.

However, the departure of former South African lock Mark Andrews, the inspiration behind the Falcons recent resurgence, handed a revamped Saracens pack the initiative.

A sign of their growing dominance was underlined on the half-hour when a powerful forwards drive saw the ball spun wide to full-back Tim Horan, who showed great strength to hold off two players and muscle his way over. Goode finally found his range by adroitly slotting the conversion.

However, Sarries crucially failed to hold out until the break. On 39 minutes Jonny Wilkinson started and finished a sweeping move which began on his own ten-metre line to score in the corner. The England fly-half slotted the conversion with aplomb to bring the scores level.

Unruffled, Sarries attacked from the restart and in first-half injury time Goode edged the visitors in front at the interval with a sweetly-struck penalty.

The match was effectively settled in a blistering 11-minute spell early in the second-half that saw Newcastle cut loose with three tries.

Centre Jamie Noon sparked things off as he waltzed home after intercepting a promising Sarries' attack, Michael Stephenson crossed with similar ease four minutes later and was then caught head high with a dangerous tackle from Horan that brought a penalty try.

At 26-10 a rampant Newcastle side looked out of sight while Sarries looked dead and buried. But in a thrilling last quarter Sarries roused themselves. Their line-out, which has been nothing short of shambolic in recent weeks, suddenly became a potent attacking weapon.

Hooker Robbie Russell finally found one of his jumpers and from a huge drive captain Kyran Bracken darted over but Goode missed the tricky conversion.

The 75th minute sin-binning of Falcons' lock Stuart Grimes gave Sarries further momentum and they capitalised almost immediately on their numercial advantage with a third try.

In an almost carbon copy of the second try, another slick catch and drive saw Mike Storey bundled over for his first try for the club. Goode landed a difficult conversion to leave the match on a knife-edge at 26-22.

For a side playing their third game in eight days, Sarries showed remarkable stamina as they threw the kitchen sink at Newcastle during a stirring final five minutes.

But despite a wave of relentless attacks they failed to turn possession into points and were forced to settle for the consolation of a bonus point.

May 6, 2003 14:00