Falcons fly past Quins

Newcastle took another step towards avoiding relegation with a 33-18 Aviva Premiership victory over Harlequins on Friday.

Newcastle took another step towards avoiding relegation with a 33-18 Aviva Premiership victory over Harlequins on Friday.

Falcons produced a second-half masterclass to conjure a comfortable win over play-off hopefuls Harlequins.

Quins arrived on Tyneside having won 10 of their last 12 matches but the Falcons produced arguably their best display of the season to score three second-half tries from Alex Gray, Luke Fielden and Micky Young.

It was another massive step in the right direction for Alan Tait's men after they won at bottom club Leeds Carnegie last weekend.

Quins led when an attack that covered several phases culminated in Rory Clegg and Mike Brown combining to send Tom Williams over in the right corner.

Clegg, the former Newcastle fly-half, converted before Jimmy Gopperth's first penalty got the hosts off the mark.

Rival forwards Jon Golding and James Johnston were sinbinned in the 16th minute and Quins prop Ceri Jones soon joined them.

Gopperth kicked two more penalties to sandwich one from Clegg as both sides relished the battle up front but also showed adventure with ball in hand.

Newcastle had full-back Jeremy Manning carried off on a stretcher before Gopperth's fourth penalty put them ahead at the break.

After Clegg's second penalty restored Harlequins' lead, Newcastle fashioned a splendid response which harvested two tries in quick succession.

First Gray burrowed over after a searing break from Tane Tu'ipulotu in the 54th minute and victory was effectively sealed four minutes later when Fielden scampered clear in the corner.

Harlequins replied through late on through full-back Brown but the Falcons claimed their third score when Young burrowed over and Gopperth booted his seventh goal.

The scorers:

For Newcastle:
Tries: Gray, Fielden, Young
Cons: Gopperth 3
Pens: Gopperth 4

For Harlequins:
Tries: Williams, Brown
Con: Clegg
Pens: Clegg 2

The teams:

Newcastle: 15 Jeremy Manning, 14 Luke Fielden, 13 Luke Eves, 12 James Fitzpatrick, 11 Alex Tait, 10 Jimmy Gopperth, 9 Micky Young, 8 Ally Hogg, 7 Brent Wilson, 6 Tim Swinson, 5 Andrew Van der Heijden, 4 James Hudson, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Matt Thompson, 1 Jon Golding.
Replacements:16 Rob Vickers, 17 Grant Shiells, 18 Kieran Brookes, 19 Mark Wilson, 20 Alex Gray, 21 Chris Pilgrim, 22 Tane Tu'ipulotu, 23 Tom Catterick.

Harlequins: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Tom Williams, 13 Ugo Monye, 12 Jordan Turner-Hall, 11 Ollie Lindsay-Hague, 10 Rory Clegg, 9 Dave Moore, 8 Chris Robshaw (c), 7 Will Skinner, 6 Maurie Fa'asavalu, 5 Pete Browne, 4 Ollie Kohn, 3 James Johnston, 2 Joe Gray, 1 Ceri Jones.
Replacements: 16 Chris Brooker, 17 Joe Marler, 18 Mark Lambert, 19 Tomas Vallejos, 20 Chris York, 21 Ben Urdapilleta, 22 Tom Casson, 23 Ross Chisholm.

Venue: Kingston Park
Referee: Andrew Small
Assistant referees: Alan Hughes, Robin Goodliffe