Saracens 58 Newcastle Falcons 15

Mar 29 2010 by Nick Purewal, The Journal

EVEN Steve Bates called it a spanking. Forsaking the middle of the road, the Falcons rugby director nailed this contest when he admitted his Newcastle side got caught with their pants down – and Saracens applied the coup de grace.

A disappointed Bates admitted: “You have to expect sometimes at this level if you do not perform you will have your trousers pulled down and you will get spanked. That is what happened to us.

“We have all been there as sportsmen where you have been on the receiving end of a spanking.

“It is not a unique situation in rugby, nor in sport, and the players know what they need to do to turn it around.

“We were out-fought, out-thought and outplayed.

“The two tries from the two missed tackles really knocked us off our stride and it was always going to be a tough afternoon after that.

“Those scores meant we were always chasing the game and against a side like that, in that sort of form, we were always going to find that a big ask.

“The players are a bit shell-shocked. We told them at half-time they must not panic and they could get back into it, but the first score we conceded after the break killed it to be honest.

“From then on in we were half thinking about Wednesday to be fair.”

Newcastle conceded seven tries, two of them interceptions at the death and two of them soft scores from rampaging hooker Schalk Brits, who rode weak tackles to set his Saracens side en route to a comprehensive victory.

The Falcons slumped to by far their biggest Premiership defeat of the season, eclipsing November’s 28-8 Kingston Park Northampton reverse – and the loss could not have come at a worse time.

The defeat also proved Newcastle’s worst in the league since they slumped 53-10 at Sale in April 2008. With Gloucester pitching up at Kingston Park on Wednesday night and Harlequins to come on Saturday, the Falcons’ challenge now is to wipe yesterday’s debacle from their memory.

Bates added: “We only have two days to prepare for Wednesday and there is no point in going over what happened.

“We will basically forget about today, wipe it out and get on with the business of building back the confidence and making sure we keep this result in perspective.

“The timing is poor, of course, but it is not a reflection of the quality of our players, our squad – or our season.

“We have to be extremely sensible and remember what has worked for us to get us the good results, and we have to set about making sure we are in the right frame of mind for the contest.” Barnstorming South African hooker Brits put Saracens two scores to the good after just 15 minutes, both tries the product of poor Newcastle defending.

A drop-goal and three penalties had Newcastle in the game at 17-12 as the first quarter came to a close, but then the home side dropped the hammer.

Mr Reliable Glen Jackson shanked three straight penalties, but then Andy Saull stole in after Newcastle lost a lineout deep in their own 22.

Jackson added a penalty to close the half, before trading three-pointers with Gopperth after the turnaround – and then came the killer blow.

Newcastle may well have been dead and buried by the break, but Noah Cato provided the nail in the coffin just before the hour.

Forcing the issue, Rob Vickerman’s offload found its way to the flying winger, and from halfway he cantered home.

Captain Ernst Joubert then followed suit as centurion Brent Wilson fell into Vickerman’s trap, before Richard Houghton stole in from a short lineout and Joubert doubled his tally from a five-metre scrum break.

Jackson ended the day with 23 points, but that was the least of Newcastle’s worries.

SARACENS: A Goode, R Penney (R Houghton, 60mins), A Powell (D Hougaard, 67mins), B Barritt, N Cato, G Jackson, N de Kock (M Rauluni, 69mins), R Gill (M Aguero, 55mins), S Brits (F Ongaro, 65mins), P du Plessis (R Skuse, 65mins), H Vyvyan, M Botha (T Ryder, 60mins), J Burger (J Melck, 61mins), A Saull, E Joubert (capt).

Scorers – Tries: Brits 2 (8mins, 15mins); Saull (36mins); Cato (59mins); Joubert 2 (65mins, 80mins); Houghton (75mins) Cons: Jackson 7 (8mins, 15mins, 36mins, 59mins, 65mins, 75mins, 80mins) Pens: Jackson 3 (13mins, 39mins, 55mins)

NEWCASTLE FALCONS: A Tait, D Williams, G Bobo, T Tu’ipulotu (R Vickerman, 56mins), C Amesbury, J Gopperth (T Catterick, 69mins), M Young (H Charlton, 67mins), J Golding (M Ward, 63mins), R Vickers (A Walker, 60mins), C Hayman (K Brookes, 68mins), J Hudson, T Swinson, F Levi (M Sorenson, 55mins), B Wilson, P Browne (J Afu, 41mins).

Scorers – Pens: Gopperth 4 (6mins, 11mins, 18mins, 50mins) Drop-goals: Gopperth (3mins).

Referee: Chris White Attendance: 8,565.