Newcastle stun Saracens to climb off bottom

Newcastle Falcons have now won five of their past six games in all competitions

Gallagher Premiership

Newcastle (17) 17

Tries: Hearle, Radwan Cons: Connon 2 Pens: Connon

Saracens (5) 12

Tries: Elliott, Willis Cons: Burke

Newcastle Falcons climbed off the bottom of the Premiership as they hung on to deservedly beat Saracens for the first time since 2009.

The Falcons leapfrogged Exeter Chiefs with a second win in three games in the competition.

Alex Hearle and Adam Radwan scored their tries, added to seven points from the boot of Brett Connon as they won a fourth straight match at Kingston Park.

Saracens' tries came early from Tobias Elliott and late from Tom Willis but they could not prevent a third league loss in four games although they still remain fourth and picked up a losing bonus point.

And the visitors finished with 14 men as Hugh Tizard was sent off for coming in from the side on Sammy Arnold.

Sarries were without their four England players who featured in the win over Japan just five days earlier in Red Rose captain Jamie George, their own skipper Maro Itoje, Ben Earl and Nick Isiekwe.

But Theo Dan, who was part of the England squad for the autumn games, is a fine replacement for hooker George and he showed why with a fantastic burst of pace through midfield in the move which ended with Elliott scoring in the corner for the fourth time in the competition this season.

However, this was a different Falcons to the one that has been on show in recent times.

Boosted by ending their 25-game Premiership losing streak last month against Exeter and three straight wins in the Premiership Rugby Cup, they turned the match around by half-time.

Competitive up front, they found cutting edge behind as winger Hearle ran an unstoppable line at pace to crash over.

Then only moments after coming on as a replacement for full-back Ethan Grayson, Radwan got the type of chance he has been craving to go over in the corner for his first Premiership try of the season.

Friday night experience

On top of the 12-point cushion at the break, the elements arrived in the Falcons' favour as rain swept in, creating the type of uncomfortable Kingston Park experience that consultant director of rugby Steve Diamond had talked about in the build-up.

The visitors struggled to gain momentum to threaten a comeback as they were met by a fired up home side, who were growing in confidence.

That was exemplified by hooker Jamie Blamire producing a pinpoint kick to clear his lines after Saracens had lost possession in the attacking half and then Radwan putting in a try-saving tackle on replacement Tom Parton.

Mark McCall’s side finally got on the scoreboard in the second half when Willis bulldozed over in the 78th minute, but they could not get out of their half again as Newcastle ended a run of 24 successive losses to Saracens dating back to February 2009.

And Tizard saw red after the Television Match Offical decided that his challenge on Arnold, for which the Irish centre had to be carried from the field, merited a sending off while Arnold was given a yellow card.

Newcastle will take this renewed belief into the Challenge Cup next weekend, while Saracens will hope to regroup with their England stars before facing South African side Bulls in their opening Champions Cup fixture.

'Falcons deserved it' - McCall

Newcastle Falcons consultant director of rugby Steve Diamond told BBC Radio Newcastle:

"I asked the lads to put us in the shop window and they did it last week against a very strong Sale side and we got our first chance back in the league, and I think we left 10 points out there.

"We're going to have a great night tonight, we've got three days off and we've chartered a jet to go to Pau.

"We'll go straight in and straight out and we're going to have a go at that competition as well."

Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall told BBC Sport:

"Newcastle were better organised than we were, they were better coached than we were and they thoroughly deserved to win the match.

"We had 14 players away playing in various parts of Europe while Falcons had their whole squad together for the last four weeks.

"That was always going to be a bit of an advantage but it shouldn't have been the advantage it turned out to be tonight.

"We still had a lot of good experienced players playing tonight, but we weren't anywhere near good enough."

Newcastle: Grayson; Stevenson, Arnold, Hutchison, Hearle; Connon, Stuart; McCallum, Blamire, Palframan, Van der Walt, De Chaves, Lockwood, Gordon, Chick.

Replacements: Fletcher, Rewcastle, Hancock, McDonald, Leatherbarrow, Pepper, Spencer, Radwan.

Sin-bin: Arnold (79)

Saracens: Daly; Elliot, Lozowski, Tompkins, Segun; Burke, Van Zyl; Carre, Dan, Balmain, McFarland, Tizard, Gonzalez, Knight, Willis.

Replacements: Hadfield, Mawi, Riccioni, Wilson, Michelow, Simpson, Spink, Parton.

Sent-off: Tizard (79)

Referee: Matthew Carley