Four-try Gloucester book Bilbao date

Editor

Gloucester secured a place in the Challenge Cup Final in Bilbao on May 11 after they beat Newcastle Falcons 33-12 at Kingsholm on Friday.

Tries from Tom Marshall, Motu Matu'u, Billy Burns and Ben Vellacott, along with 13 points from Billy Twelvetrees, saw them to victory.

In reply the Falcons' two tries came via Scott Lawson as they bow out of this year's competition. They were well beaten on the night.

Gloucester came from behind to lead 15-5 at the break in an entertaining opening half that saw the Cherry and Whites go in in front.

They were rocked early though when hooker Lawson barged over off the back of a driving Newcastle line-out for a try that made it 0-5.

But Gloucester then began to show some steel in the pack, with their scrum in particular getting them on the front foot, which led to their opening try. From the wheeling scrum on their ten-metre they spread the attack to the dangerous Jason Woodward, who stepped through a gap before setting Marshall on his way to the line. Again the try was unconverted so it was 5-5 with 21 minutes played under the sunset.

Twelvetrees was on target six minutes later with a penalty after Ryan Burrows was pinged for holding on so they had their noses in front.

It all happened before the break when Gloucester kicked a penalty into the 22 and despite initially being unsuccessful, a try came in the 40th minute, with the line-out drive providing the score for Matu'u. Twelvetrees landed the conversion and Gloucester had a 10-point lead.

That became 15 seven minutes into the second-half when Burns raced through a hole 40 metres out, with the Falcons defence not set.

But Newcastle did respond shortly after via another line-out drive, with Lawson claiming his brace before he was replaced on 55 minutes.

Fortunately for the home fans it didn't take long for Gloucester to nudge the Falcons back, with a Twelvetrees penalty making it 23-12.

Even the Shed would have felt fortunate to watch Twelvetrees making it 26-12 on 69 minutes after Falcons replacement Santiago Socino was harshly deemed to be offside by the officials. And with a 14-point advantage it seemed highly unlikely that Newcastle would be victorious.

Gloucester though weren't done and Woodward was again involved in their fourth try, with Vellacott finishing off to add gloss to the win.

The scorers:

For Gloucester:
Tries: Marshall, Matu'u, Burns, Vellacott
Cons: Twelvetrees 2
Pens: Twelvetrees 3

For Newcastle:
Tries: Lawson 2
Con: Hodgson

Gloucester: 15 Jason Woodward, 14 Tom Marshall, 13 Billy Twelvetrees, 12 Mark Atkinson, 11 Henry Trinder, 10 Billy Burns, 9 Callum Braley, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Jake Polledri, 6 Ruan Ackermann, 5 Mariano Galarza, 4 Ed Slater (c), 3 Fraser Balmain, 2 Motu Matu'u, 1 Paddy McAllister
Replacements: 16 James Hanson, 17 Josh Hohneck, 18 John Afoa, 19 Freddie Clarke, 20 Lewis Ludlow, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Andy Symons, 23 Charlie Sharples

Newcastle: 15 Simon Hammersley, 14 Chris Harris, 13 Maxime Mermoz, 12 Josh Matavesi, 11 Zach Kibirige, 10 Joel Hodgson, 9 Michael Young (c), 8 Ryan Burrows, 7 Gary Graham, 6 Evan Olmstead, 5 Sean Robinson, 4 Calum Green, 3 Scott Wilson, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Sam Lockwood
Replacements: 16 Santiago Socino, 17 Rob Vickers, 18 Trevor Davison, 19 Will Witty, 20 Mark Wilson, 21 Sam Stuart, 22 Adam Radwan, 23 Tom Penny

Referee: Pascal Gaüzère (France)
Assistant referees: Jérôme Garcès (France), Pierre Brousset (France)
Television match official: Éric Briquet-Campin (France)