Newcastle Falcons 35-21 Connacht: Eliminated Falcons get first Challenge Cup group victory
- Published
Falcons centre Matias Orlando scored the second of his side's five tries against Connacht at Kingston Park
European Challenge Cup |
|---|
Newcastle: (21) 35 |
Tries: Young, Orlando, Carreras, Barton, Lucock Cons: Schoeman 4, Thomas |
Connacht: (14) 21 |
Tries: Bealham 3 Cons: Fitzgerald 3 |
Newcastle Falcons scored five tries in beating Connacht to seal their first European Challenge Cup Pool A win.
But the hosts had already missed out on qualification thanks to Brive beating Cardiff earlier in the day.
Tries from scrum-half Micky Young and Argentines Matias Orlando and Matias Carreras earned a 21-14 half-time lead.
Connacht prop Finlay Bealham crossed twice to add to his first-half try to make it a treble but Josh Barton and Pete Lucock secured the five points.
Barton came off the bench to score the fourth try for a bonus point before, with Connacht still in range at 28-21, centre Lucock's late fifth try completed victory.
Connacht had already qualified for the next stage of the competition heading into the game at Kingston Park, having booked their place in the top six of Pool A with three straight wins.
One more would have guaranteed a home knockout tie at the round of 16 stage - but instead they now finish fifth in the pool and will be drawn away from home in the next round.
The top six from each of the two groups go through to the round of 16, with four eliminated Champions Cup sides joining them.
Falcons had done themselves no favours by losing their first three games, without picking up any bonus points.
They could still have made it thought in sixth, if Cardiff had beaten Brive in France, but the French side's five-point win, allied to their bonus point against Connacht in December sneaked them ahead of Newcastle by just a point.
Newcastle: Tait; Stevenson, Orlando, Lucock, Carreras; Schoeman, Young; Mulipola, Blamire, Davison, Peterson, de Chaves, Graham, Van Der Walt, Fearns.
Replacements: Maddison, Brocklebank, Palframan, Lockwood, Rubiolo, Barton, Thomas, Radwan.
Connacht: Hansen; A Byrne, Ralston, Forde, Wootton; Fitzgerald, C Reilly; Buckley, Delahunt, Bealham, Fifita, J Murphy, Hurley-Langton, Oliver, Butler.
Replacements: Tierney-Martin, Duggan, Aungier, D Murray, Booth, Blade, Daly, Farrell.