Western Force 25 - Newcastle 15

[James]

Newcastle Falcons led at half-time but ultimately lost out to Australian Super 14 side, Western Force, at Kingston Park on Friday.

The hosts had led 8-5 before Wallaby legend Matthew Burke made an emotional farewell to the Newcastle fans on the pitch at half-time, with centre Tom Dillon rounding off a marvellous team try to follow Rob Miller's third-minute penalty.

Dillon's support running earned due rewards as he was on the spot to claim a scoring pass from debutant centre Spencer Davey, with the former Doncaster man claiming man-of-the-match honours in his maiden Falcons appearance.

Fellow new-boy Adam Balding also impressed in a physical 40 minutes before Newcastle rolled on the replacements at half-time, making eight changes at the interval and a further six early in to the second half.

Solid on their own scrum and disruptive on Western Force ball, Newcastle's first taste of the experimental law variations started brightly as skipper Phil Dowson made a menace of himself in the loose, while John Rudd's direct running saw him break the first tackle on a number of occasions.

The Aussies had the last say of the first half as flanker Matt Hodgson barged over the line from a Scott Staniforth blindside break, leaving Newcastle 8-5 to the good at half time despite turning down some kickable penalties.

The Force started the brighter of the two sides in the second half, with replacement fullback Alex Tait misjudging a slide for the loose ball to allow centre Junior Pelesasa an unopposed run to the try line just two minutes in.

Pelesasa then repeated the feat with a second try just five minutes later as he picked a superb line to exploit a midfield gap, James O'Connor again adding the conversion.

Incessant scrum pressure saw referee Rob Debney award Newcastle a penalty try as a powerful eight-man shove forced the tourists to collapse the set piece, but with a yellow card shown to prop AJ Whalley the Falcons coaching staff allowed the Force to keep their full quota of 15 players to ensure a thorough work-out.

The visitors extended their lead with two penalties from O'Connor as Newcastle continued their policy of turning down shots at goal, while rugby league wing Danny Williams got his first taste of union with a 20-minute run at the end.

The England international showed his skill in taking a high bomb over his left shoulder near the touch line, with a string of tackles in defence in what was his maiden outing in the 15-man code.

Newcastle pressed in the final exchanges with Joe McDonnell just inches short from a pick-and-go, but in the end it was Western Force who claimed the honours from this early pre-season run-out.

Newcastle Falcons:

Tries: Dillon, Penalty try
Cons: Jones
Pens: Miller

Western Force:

Tries: Hodgson, Pelesasa 2
Cons: O'Connor 2
Pens: O'Connor 2

Newcastle Falcons:

15 Tom May
14 Ollie Phillips
13 Tom Dillon
12 Spencer Davey
11 John Rudd
10 Rob Miller
9 James Grindal

1 Micky Ward
2 Andy Long
3 Carl Hayman
4 Andy Buist
5 Mark Sorenson
6 Adam Balding
7 Brent Wilson
8 Phil Dowson (captain)

Replacements:

Joe McDonnell, David Wilson, Rob Vickers, Matt Thompson, Andy Perry, Geoff Parling, Tim Swinson, Russell Winter, Ed Williamson, Micky Young, Hall Charlton, Steve Jones, Alex Tait, Tim Visser, Danny Williams.

Emirates Western Force:

15 Dane Haylett-Petty
14 Scott Staniforth
13 Josh Tatupu
12 Junior Pelesasa
11 Haig Sare
10 James O’Connor
9 Chris O’Young

1 Pek Cowan
2 Luke Holmes
3 AJ Whalley
4 Sam Wykes
5 Valeni Tia Tia
6 Matt Hodgson
7 David Pocock (captain)
8 Filipe Manu

Replacements:

16 Tai McIsaac
17 Kieran Longbottom
18 Brent Murphy
19 Tom Murday
20 Justin Turner
21 Scott Daruda
22 Caleb Brown

Referee: Rob Debney
Attendance: 3,469

Read more...

The penalty try is a touch worrying I must admit. I doubt they'd face a tougher tight-head than Hayman on this tour though.

[JediKnight]

Penalty try was when the Force were down to 7-man scrum after AJ's yellow card (by his own admission, he 'needed a rest'!!!). The ensuing scrum saw a dodgy penalty try awarded and then the Force returned to their full complement.

I wouldn't say that the Falcons were 'disruptive' on the Force put-ins. It was a strong challenge at all scrums and the Force acquitted themselves well.

I'll write a full report tomorrow (it's midnight & I've just got back to the hotel) but rather worringly, both Staniforth & O'Young had ice-packs on their knees after the game. CO'Y went down a few times with a dodgy leg but played the full match. Spanner went off at half-time and it's the same knee that he's hurt before. He reckons that he might be an observer for the rest of the tour.

[Darren]

Explaining one moment of second-half confusion for many of the assembled crowd of 3,469, Bates revealed he had given his blessing to Western Force sending on an extra player following the sin-binning of prop AJ Whalley for collapsing a scrum.

“In a pre-season game there's no point whatsoever in playing against 14 men, because what you want is a tough 80-minute work-out that will prepare you for the rigours of the Guinness Premiership,” he said.

“It would be a complete waste of time to have a man advantage when what both teams want is a good practice session, so we told the Western Force coaches we were happy for them to ship another guy on and make it 15 versus 15.

“I appreciate the referee has his job to do, and if he deems an offence worthy of a yellow card then he has to bin the guy. I have no problem with that at all, but when the whole point of the exercise is to get a good work-out then we gave our blessing to them sending on a replacement player. I understand some of the crowd weren't too happy about it, but these games are all about good quality practice, and we just thought the common sense approach was to keep it as 15 v 15.”

Read more...

[lara93]

wooo go force!
great to see o'connor kicking!

[slomo]

great result, certainly not good news for stanners..................

[force addict]

wow pelesasa with 2 tries! Well done to the Force!!!!!

[jargan83]

Penalty try was when the Force were down to 7-man scrum after AJ's yellow card (by his own admission, he 'needed a rest'!!!). The ensuing scrum saw a dodgy penalty try awarded and then the Force returned to their full complement.

I wouldn't say that the Falcons were 'disruptive' on the Force put-ins. It was a strong challenge at all scrums and the Force acquitted themselves well.

I'll write a full report tomorrow (it's midnight & I've just got back to the hotel) but rather worringly, both Staniforth & O'Young had ice-packs on their knees after the game. CO'Y went down a few times with a dodgy leg but played the full match. Spanner went off at half-time and it's the same knee that he's hurt before. He reckons that he might be an observer for the rest of the tour.

I look forward to the full report Jedi. I'm happy with result, disappointed for Spanner though
Posted via Mobile Device

[Swee_82]

Good to see Junior back out there, and a couple of tries to boot

[travelling_gerry]

THE Western Force opened its development tour of the UK with a 25-15 win over the Newcastle Falcons.

The Force was behind 8-5 at the break, a try from flanker Matt Hodgson their only points, but centre Junior Pelesasa Force scored two tries early in the second half to effectively wrap the game up.

Hodgson smashed his way over after a Scott Staniforth blindside break.

Pelesasa's first came two minutes after the break running in unopposed after Falcons fullback Alex Tait had misjudged a loose ball.

Five minutes later he burst through a midfield hole to touch down.

James O'Connor converted both.


more from the Sunday Times here...

[Thequeerone]

Quality will out - fantastic stuff from our lads not a bad result at the VBookie either

[jono]

not spanner's knee again!
i wish him all the best and hope that he can catch a break and get away with no more injuries.

[robyn <3]

thats such a good result by the boys! well done guys
sounds like junior came back with a bit of a blinder, im so glad he is back

poor spanner.. hope you get better soon. look after your knee

[jazza93]

Yea nice work junior. You can come back now, the semi finals are next week.

[goony]

you will need him haha

[Thequeerone]

Yesterday's shock result in the Club competition was Perth Bayswater beating Wanneroo