Steve Bates' troops lose the battle

Feb 8 2010 by Nick Purewal, The Journal

SO after parading at half-time, the heroes remained in the stands.

No match-winning Newcastle men to herald on a day where North East soldiers were celebrated for their bravery and dedication.

The Falcons’ dogs of war gritted their teeth, rolled up their sleeves and set about trying to augment the fundraising for the Second Battalion Fusiliers Northern Regiment.

However, they did not bet on former Falcon Dave Walder’s unerring boot, off the tee and out of hand, and they forgot to protect the pill.

Steve Bates’ men should have run in two tries either side of the break, but never found that final pass – and in truth never found fluency or enough quick ball.

The Falcons turned down the odd pot shot at goal in favour of continuing the experiment drive, given the game was a dead rubber but, while they found favour in the driven maul just like last week, they could not squeeze over the whitewash.

Three penalties to one then, and Wasps go home with the points, but neither side will have been happy with their efforts – and there was little by way of excitement to cheer the crowd.

Rugby director Bates was unimpressed, and admitted his players felt the same.

Quickly turning attention to the forthcoming Premiership return at Northampton, Bates knows much greater control will be required should the Falcons hope for a victory in the Midlands.

With time running out, wing Danny Williams cut the line on an inside ball, stepped the cover and nearly seared under the posts.

Hauled down just shy of the line, the rugby league convert rolled and tried to offload to the chasing horde, only to knock the ball on and let the chance slip through his fingers.

For Bates, that was a moment which provided a pretty decent snapshot of the whole, frustrating afternoon.

He said: “We should have scored a try under the sticks at the end, but the final pass did not go to hand and that just about summed up our game.

“We did quite a lot of good things and then threw the ball away, and if we had kept that ball and Danny had scored under the sticks maybe we would have won the game.

“We showed good work in the line-out, especially driving it on, and we can be confident with that.

“Chris Pilgrim has done very well at scrum-half, Mark Wilson came in and scrapped well in the back-row and Pete Browne battled on well with a sore shoulder.

“If the result had mattered more then we would have kicked penalties, but that was not what we were after and hopefully we will benefit more for sticking to the plan of working hard on areas of our game.

“The players were frustrated, their game was a bit rusty around the edges and that was what they were talking about in the changing room.

“We had to protect the ball better, and we need to make sure we come on to the ball from a bit more depth.

“The stakes are raised significantly when we go to Northampton, but we will be ready.”

The half-chances were few and far between, but the Falcons should have made the most of their territory and possession dominance in the first half.

The teams turned around level at 3-3 and just as much as Williams’ missed opportunity late on, maybe that inability to score before the break left the Falcons just as hamstrung.

No matter here, but come Saturday and Franklin’s Gardens the real deal will hit Newcastle square in the eye.

NEWCASTLE FALCONS: A Tait (T Biggs, 59mins), D Williams, R Vickerman, T Tu’ipulotu (G Bobo, 62mins), C Amesbury, R Miller (J Gopperth, 59mins), H Charlton (capt) (C Pilgrim, 45mins), M Ward (G Shiells, 41mins), A Walker, M Thompson (C Hayman, 41mins), P Browne, F Levi, M Wilson, B Wilson, J Afu. Replacements: K Brookes, E Williamson.

Scorers: Pens: Miller (15mins).

LONDON WASPS: M van Gisbergen (L Mitchell, 59mins), L Smith, B Jacobs, S Kefu (E Hickey, 67mins), D Lemi, D Walder (capt), M Robinson (J Honeyben, 41mins), S Taulafo (G Bocca, 56mins), J Ward (T Lindsay, 36mins), B Baker (B Broster, 73mins), M Veale, D Ward-Smith (P Elder, 59mins), M Odejobi, W Matthews, H Ellis (C Whitehead, 72mins).

Scorer: Pens: Walder 3 (40mins, 59mins, 78mins).

Referee: Andrew Small. Att: 4,651.