Falcons end season winless after Gloucester defeat
Gloucester and England winger Jonny May scored on his Kingsholm farewell
- Published
Gallagher Premiership
Gloucester: 54 (26)
Tries: Mercer, Harris, C Atkinson, Thorley, Blake, May, Hearle, Hathaway Cons: Englefield 5, Varney, Socino
Newcastle: 14 (14)
Tries: Blamire, Moroni Cons: Connon 2
Newcastle Falcons ended the Premiership season winless after Gloucester triumphed in the battle of the bottom two to sign off a disappointing league campaign on a high note.
Gloucester scored four first-half tries through Zach Mercer, Chris Harris, Charlie Atkinson and Ollie Thorley, with the visitors replying through Jamie Blamire and Matias Moroni.
Seb Blake added to home side’s lead before England winger Jonny May scored on his Kingsholm farewell.
Falcons lock Tim Cardall was sin-binned with eight minutes left, with Alex Hearle and Josh Hathaway adding late tries for the Cherry and Whites.
The hosts responded well to last Saturday’s 90-0 defeat by Northampton Saints but finish the campaign second bottom with only five wins in 18 matches.
George Skivington’s men have fared better in cup competitions this year, winning the Premiership Rugby Cup in March, and they have the chance for more silverware on Friday when they face South African side the Sharks in the European Challenge Cup final.
The Falcons end a rotten season without a single league victory and with 15 players leaving Kingston Park this summer it will be a very different looking team starting next season under Steve Diamond.
Newcastle Falcons lost all 18 of their Premiership fixtures this season
After comfortably soaking up early Newcastle possession, Gloucester scored with their first attack after ten minutes. Charlie Atkinson made a good break and after he was tackled just short of the line, May found Mercer to crash over.
The Cherry and Whites then hit the Falcons with two tries in two minutes, the first with a move started and finished by Scotland international centre Harris and the second after Charlie Atkinson dotted down Seb Atkinson’s kick.
Newcastle scored their first points from a driving maul through Blamire after 24 minutes, but the hosts struck back to claim their fourth try and the bonus point through Thorley after a good dart from Caolan Englefield.
Departing Argentina international centre Matias Moroni crossed shortly before the break for the Falcons to reduce the deficit to 26-14 at half-time.
It took Gloucester just two minutes to score after the restart through Blake and then May dotted down from close range for possibly the most popular score of the afternoon in front a delighted Kingsholm crowd.
After a period of calm, Cardall’s yellow card for pulling down a driving maul prompted a late flourish for the hosts as Hearle scored against the side he is joining next season before full-back Hathaway added an eighth try.
Another departing player, hooker Santiago Socino, was then given the honour of kicking the final conversion in his last home game.
Gloucester: Hathaway; May, Harris, S Atkinson, Thorley; C Atkinson, Englefield; Ford-Robinson, Blake, Gotovtsev; Clarke, Thomas, Ackermann, Ludlow, Mercer.
Replacements: Socino, Vivas, Knight, Tuisue, Clement, Varney, Hearle, Morris.
Newcastle: Brown; Radwan, Moroni, Hutchison, Redshaw; Connon, Stuart; Brocklebank, Blamire, Bello, Cardall, Hawkins, Cross, Pepper, Chick.
Replacements: Byrne, Dormer, Palframan, Scott, Lockwood, Elliott, Jennings, Spencer.
Sin-bin: Cardall (72).
Referee: Sara Cox.