Premiership: Exeter Chiefs 14-15 Newcastle - First win at Sandy Park for Falcons

George McGuigan's early try set Newcastle on their way to a historic win

Exeter's poor home form continued as Newcastle inflicted their third Sandy Park loss in four games this season.

George McGuigan's early try was cancelled out by Joe Simmonds' close-range score on the stroke of half-time.

Don Armand got a second try for Exeter shortly after the break but Ben Stevenson replied for Falcons shortly after Jack Nowell was sent to the sin bin.

Brett Connan's late penalty secured a first-ever Falcons' victory at Exeter.

Newcastle, who had lost on all 13 previous visits, move up to eighth in the Premiership, while Exeter's losing bonus point lifts them to fourth place.

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McGuigan was mauled over after eight minutes as Newcastle led for much of an attritional first half.

Exeter did well to defend their line for long periods and drew level when Simmonds went over under the posts after a period of pressure which followed a long Newcastle line-out that was intercepted by Harvey Skinner.

An excellent 50-22 kick set up the field position for Armand's pick-and-go try, but Newcastle pressurised Exeter again and, when Nowell was yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on, Stevenson found the gap the England winger had vacated after a line-out maul.

Exeter gave away 16 penalties, including a number when they were in good positions, and that poor discipline would eventually prove decisive.

Joel Hodgson missed a straightforward penalty to give Newcastle the lead with 13 minutes to go, but when the Chiefs were penalised for holding on in the tackle five minutes later his replacement Connan made no mistake.

Exeter failed to take in a late line-out after a penalty and Newcastle cleared their lines to condemn Rob Baxter's side to a fourth loss of the season - one less than the total they suffered during the entirety of the last campaign, when they reached the Premiership final.

Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter:

"It is starting to get frustrating, not just for me but the players as well. Against London Irish we weren't where we needed to be emotionally, but this time I don't think that was so much the case.

"I don't think we have not worked hard, or not turned up, or not had a desperation to win. We just haven't been able to pull the game together in lots of individual ways.

"Our game had individual mistakes, it had collective mistakes, and it had errors in pretty much every area of the game, in attack, in defence or around set-piece.

"The one good thing is we have only conceded 15 points, and at home you would expect to win when you do that, but we haven't managed to roll the scoreboard up high enough to get over that hurdle."

Falcons director of rugby Dean Richards told BBC Radio Newcastle:

"We made a good start but that last two or three minutes of the first half we allowed them to come back in.

"At half-time, we spoke about the positives from the half but there were so many of them, the boys came out quite buoyed from it and the second half was tight all the way through.

"In the final two minutes we showed how committed we were to it with everybody throwing their body on the line.

"I'm delighted but you don't rest on your laurels, you take what you can from it, mark it and move on."

Exeter: J Simmonds; Nowell, Hendrickson, Devoto, Hodge; H Skinner, Maunder; Hepburn, Yeandle (capt), Williams, Witty, Lonsdale, Kirsten, Armand, Capstick

Replacements: Burrows, Moon, Iosefa-Scott, Tshiunza, S Simmonds, Hidalgo-Clyne, Whitten, O'Brien.

Newcastle: Brown; Earle, Wacokecoke, Lucock, Stevenson; Hodgson, Schreuder; Brocklebank, McGuigan, Palframan, Peterson, Montgomery, van der Walt, Welch (capt), Fearns.

Replacements: Smith, Cooper, Mulipola, Graham, Chick, Nordli-Kelemeti, Connon, Penny.

Referee: Andrew Jackson (RFU).

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