Irish claim first win in Newcastle

Editor

London Irish claimed their first win over the Premiership season as they beat Newcastle 20-18 at Kingston Park on Sunday.

London Irish claimed their first win over the Premiership season as they beat Newcastle 20-18 at Kingston Park on Sunday.

Exiles held off a late charge from Falcons to secure a what could a be vital victory in the battle to avoid relegation.

A fairly uneventful first half saw the Falcons take the lead through Josh Furno but Juan Socino was left to rue three missed kicks as their only try was cancelled out by two Shane Geraghty penalties.

The two sides exchanged tries in the second half; Scott Wilson and Sinoti Sinoti for the hosts and Andrew Fenby for Irish, but Socino's missed conversion two minutes from time denied Newcastle a share of the spoils Newcastle took the lead when Furno went over from the line-out drive but Socino missed the conversion.

Despite not seeing too much of the ball, Irish reduced their deficit with a penalty from Geraghty and grew into the game from that point.

Irish scored a second penalty of the half as Newcastle were penalised for offside before Socino missed his third kick of the half with a penalty on the stroke of half time to stay a point behind at the break.

Mulchrone extended Irish's lead as Newcastle's defence was carved open before Geraghty added the conversion.

The visitors looked to have thrown away the momentum they had built up when Tom Court was sent to the sin bin for a cynical foul as he pulled back Simon Hammersley off the ball but Socino missed his fourth successive kick.

Newcastle took advantage of the extra man, scoring from another line-out drive, this time through Wilson, but Socino once again failed to convert.

Irish welcomed Court back to the field and scored a try just minutes later through Fenby after consultation with the TMO with Geraghty converting again.

After 67 minutes and five misses, Socino finally succeeded with the boot to reduce their arrears to seven.

Sinoti held off two defenders to go over in the corner with just two minutes left, giving Socino the chance to equalise with the conversion, but cruelly found the post.

The scorers:

For Newcastle:
Tries: Furno, S. Wilson, Sinoti
Pen: Socino

For London Irish:
Tries: Mulchrone
Cons: Geraghty 2
Pens: Geraghty 2
Yellow cards: Court

Newcastle: 15 Simon Hammersley, 14 Sinoti Sinoti, 13 Adam Powell, 12 Juan Pablo Socino, 11 Noah Cato, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Mike Blair, 8 Ally Hogg, 7 Will Welch (c), 6 Mark Wilson, 5 Josh Furno, 4 Calum Green, 3 Oliver Tomaszczyk, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Eric Fry.
Replacements: 16 Rob Hawkins, 17 Alex Rogers, 18 Scott Wilson, 19 Dom Barrow, 20 Richard Mayhew, 21 Ruki Tipuna, 22 Alesana Tuilagi, 23 Jamie Helleur

London Irish: 15 Andrew Fenby, 14 Alex Lewington, 13 Fergus Mulchrone, 12 Shane Geraghty, 11 James Short, 10 Chris Noakes, 9 Scott Steele, 8 Tom Guest, 7 Ofisa Treviranus, 6 Blair Cowan, 5 Daniel Leo, 4 George Skivington (c), 3 Halani Aulika, 2 David Paice, 1 Tom Court
Replacements: 16 Gerard Ellis, 17 Matt Parr, 18 Geoff Cross, 19 Kieran Low, 20 Luke Narraway, 21 Tomás O'Leary, 22 Eamonn Sheridan, 23 Topsy Ojo

Venue: Kingston Park
Referee: Andrew Small
Assistant Referees: Gareth Copsey, Peter Huckle
TMO: Sean Davey