This was the day when London Wasps came to Kingston Park and spoilt the party.

 

Billed as the home coming party for World Cup hero Jonny Wilkinson, the party had attracted a lot of people: Kingston Park enjoyed a capacity attendance of 10,001, the additional one being ‘Bill’. otherwise known as the William Webb Ellis Trophy. The party began well enough when the trophy, which only a week ago the England Team were attempting to wrest away from Australia, was paraded around the Kingston Park pitch by Lawrence Dallaglio and our very own Jonny Wilkinson in the presence of Sky TV and the massed ranks of the media. Then it all began to go wrong.

 

It was clear from the outset that Wasps were not here to make up the guest list. Within four minutes they had silenced the locals with a try on the right wing by Tom Voyce. A series of rucks took the ball deep into Falcons territory, the ball was fed out, full-back Mark van Gisbergen entered the line to provide space and Voyce scored in the corner. It was clinical and it was effective. For the home supporters at a club that had seen only one defeat at Kingston Park so far this season, it was also perturbing.

 

The ball blew over as Van Gisbergen was attempting the conversion, so he attempted a drop-goal but missed. However, London Wasps were five points up and looking hungry for more. 

 

The pre-match build-up had failed to highlight the fact that Wasps are the current Premiership Champions and that they were fielding four players returning from World Cup duties, Joe Worsley, Simon Shaw, Stuart Abbott and Kenny Logan. Perhaps that was the extra incentive that Wasps needed in the biting wind.

 

The Falcons were soon back on the defence, having turned over the ball shortly after the restart, to allow Wasps to kick the ball deep into the Falcons half. At the resultant line out, things got worse for the Falcons when they dropped the ball, Wasps were awarded a scrum, the ball came out and a ruck formed, at which the Falcons were penalised and the Wasps had a chance to kick for goal. From 40 metres out, and with the assistance of the wind, the kick by Mark van Gisbergen was only just wide.

 

Dave Walder had a chance to put points on the board, when after a couple of breaks, first by Mayerhoffler and then by Taione, the Falcons were awarded a penalty for an offside infringement by the Wasps defence. Unfortunately, Dave’s kick was blown off target just as the ball was about to pass through the uprights.

 

Wasps were soon able to punish the missed penalty, and the inability of the Falcons back line to breach the Wasps defence, a defence that did seem prone to encroaching the off-side line, without penalty from Mr Leyshon, the referee. A clearance kick to touch by Walder was received by Kenny Logan. Logan made a break over the half-way line and fed the ball to Stuart Abbott, who kicked the ball past the defenders deep into the Falcons half. Wasps swarmed on the line, a ruck formed and Logan popped up with the ball to dive over for Wasps’ second try. The conversion attempt rebounded off the swaying right hand post, but the visitors were ten points up, and the party atmosphere had evaporated.

The Falcons were looking increasingly nervous and uncertain – a restart kick went straight into touch, having won a line out ball possession was lost and the Falcons pushed back deep into their own half, and soon enough they conceded another penalty for holding on at a breakdown to allow Mark van Gisbergen to add three more points to his tally, and give Wasps a 13-0 lead with 24 minutes gone.

 

Then a glimmer of hope for the home supporters. Taione delivered an inspired overhead pass to Mark Mayerhoffler, who was able to break through the Wasps defence and lay off a pass to Tom May on the right wing. May drew the tackle and slipped the ball inside to Ben Gollings who was free to sprint for the line touch down for a try, to the delight, and relief, of the home supporters.

 

Despite a swirling wind that threatened to pull the ball away from the posts at the last minute, Walder’s conversion brought the scoreline back to a respectable 13-7.

 

The try had given the Falcons some confidence and for the next few minutes they started to exert themselves, with Taione making a couple of breaks. Wasps were making some mistakes, and it looked as if the tide might be turning. However, van Gisbergen was able to secure another three points when Wasps pushed the ball upfield and the Falcons conceded a penalty for an infringement by Vyvyan at a ruck inside the Falcons 22 metre area and almost directly in front of the posts.

 

Although Stephenson and Mayerhoffler attempted to find a way through the defence, half-time arrived with Wasps leading 16-7.

 

At the post-match press conference it emerged that the Falcons had won the toss and elected to play into the strong wind in the first half. Whether they under-estimated the strength of the wind, which was strong and unpredictable even by Kingston Park standards, or whether they over-estimated their ability to contain Wasps, will no doubt be a matter for discussion this week.  Although both Rob Andrew and Dave Walder indicated after the match that they felt at half-time that the nine point gap was not insurmountable, many in the crowd might not have shared that view.

 

The Falcons came out for the second half fired-up. Stephenson, Gollings and May soon linked up to push the Wasps defence back, but they were unable to deliver the try that they were desperately seeking, against some determined tackling by Wasps.  The first scoring opportunity of the second half, however, went to Wasps. The referee went to video replay when Kenny Logan crossed the Falcons line, but eventually decided, after the players had stood in the biting, cold wind for a few minutes, that there had been a knock-on and Falcons were given a scrum five metres out. From this Walder put in a superb clearance kick from deep behind the try-line to take play back to the half-way line and turn defence into attack.

 

From the line-out, High Vyvyan charged through, Walder put in a grubber kick and Falcons were into the Wasps 22 metre area. The Falcons recovered the ball and the back line moved the ball to the left, then to the right, before Tom May cut inside from the right wing to score near the posts. Walder’s conversion brought the Falcons to within two points of the visitors, and the crowd began to sense that we had a contest  to watch.

 

The Falcons were putting the Wasps defence under pressure. Five minutes after May’s try, Stephenson nearly scored but was stopped short of the line by two Wasps players. The pressure continued and the Falcons were awarded a penalty. Walder duly kicked the penalty to ease the Falcons into a 17-16 lead.

 

Grindal had already come on for Charlton and both sides were now ringing the changes, with a number of changes in the forwards, with Mark Andrews replacing Garath Archer, his first game since being suspended for dangerous play in the Harlequins game.

 

Whilst the Falcons were at last attempting to put Wasps under pressure, they were also making too many mistakes to make the possession and effort count. Then came the decisive moment of the game. The Falcons were awarded a penalty just inside their own half. Instead of kicking for touch in the corner, and keeping the pressure on the Wasps defence, Walder was asked to kick for goal. Although he had the distance, the ball went slightly wide. From the restart, Paul Volley charged down a Walder clearance attempt and Waps stole the ball at the resultant ruck to put Peter Richards, the replacement scrum-half clear to score a try. The conversion by van Gisbergen gave Wasps a 23-17 lead.

 

Although the Falcons secured another three points from a Walder penalty, they never seriously threatened the Wasps line and the game ended 23-20 in Wasps’ favour, providing Warren Gatland’s team with their third away victory of the season.

 

At the Causeway Stadium a few weeks ago, Wasps had won 30-26 thanks to a Shane Rossier interception try and the contrasting kicking fortunes of Walder and van Gisbergen – the Falcons player only converting one of three goal attempts. This time Walder slotted over both conversions in atrocious wind conditions, whilst van Gisbergen missed two attempts, but to no avail: Peter Richards late try, and more significantly the decision of the Falcons to attempt a penalty goal instead of kicking for touch deep in the Wasps half, whilst leading by a single point and with only a few minutes remaining, resulted in Wasps securing their seventh win of the season.

 

Peter Richards was clearly pleased in his post match interview by Sky TV to have got a win at Kingston Park, whilst Josh Lewsey on his return from the England squad admitted that it was “good to come back to a winning team”. Warren Gatland, however, was more cautious, admitting that the game “could have easily gone either way”. Gatland added that “we knew it was going to be tough coming here in front of a full house”, and indicated that he attached a lot of importance to the substitutions that he had madejust after the Falcons took the lead, saying that “It is important that guys coming off the bench have an impact”.

 

In contrast, it was clear that both Dave Walder and Rob Andrew were very disappointed by the result, and by the performance of the team, with Rob Andrew admitting that “To get ahead and then allow Wasps back in was very poor”.

 

“It was a fantastic day for the club, spoiled a bit at the end, but I’m trying not to let the huge disappointment cloud what has been a terrific occasion,” said Andrew.

“It’s a tremendous honour for this club to be the first to parade the World Cup. This is a huge chapter in the development of rugby in the North-East and it’s important that we focus on that”.

 

Whilst many Falcons supporters will share Rob Andrew’s pleasure at the pre-match events and the resultant crowd attracted to a club that only a few seasons ago had temporary stands for a hardy band of supporters, they will also share his obvious frustration and disappointment that defeat marred the celebrations and leaves the Falcons at the half-way stage of the season languishing mid-table.

 

The season takes a two week break for European tournaments, after which the World Cup players – including Jonny Wilkinson - will all be back in harness and the season may take an interesting shift of direction.

 

Asked after the game what was required to ensure that those who had come along to Kingston Park would come back for more, Rob Andrew was unequivocal, “Winning would help”. Unfortunately, on what was a significant day for rugby in the North East, the Falcons were not able to delver the victory that Rob was seeking and given the size of the crowd he cannot have been the only person leaving Kingston Park at the end of the party who had cause to feel disappointed. 

 

The scorers

Newcastle Falcons

Tries: Ben Gollings,Tom May,
Conv: Dave Walder (2)
Pen: Dave Walder  (2)
 

London Wasps

Tries: Tom Voyce, Kenny Logan, Peter Richards
Conv: Mark van Gisbergen (1)
Pen:  Mark van Gisbergen (2)
 

Starting Line Ups

 

Newcastle Falcons                                            London  Wasps

1.   Ian Peel                                                       1.  Craig Dowd
2.   Matt Thompson                                            2.  Trevor Leota 
3.   Micky Ward                                                  3.  Will Green
4.   Garath Archer                                              4.  Simon Shaw
5.   Stuart Grimes                                               5.  Richard Birkett        
6.   Epi Taione                                                   6.  Joe Worsley
7.   Warren Britz                                                7.  Jonny O’Connor
8.   Hugh Vyvyan (Capt.)                         8.  Mark Lock
9.   Hall Charlton                                                9.  Rob Howley (Capt.)
10. Dave Walder                                    10. Alex King
11. Michael Stephenson                                     11. Kenny Logan           
12. Mark Mayerhofler                                          12. Stuart Abbott
13. Jamie Noon                                                  13. Fraser Waters
14. Tom May                                                      14. Tom Voyce
15. Ben Gollings                                                15. Mark van Gisbergen

 

Replacements                                                   Replacements  

16. Marius Hurter                                               16. Peter Richards
17. Nick Makin                                                  17. Mark Denney
18. Mark Andrews                                              18. John Rudd
19. Phil Dowson                                     19. Ben Gotting
20. Jon Dunbar                                                  20. Paul Volley