Gloucester end losing run by beating Falcons

Gloucester have scored a total of 27 tries in their first six Premiership games this season

Gallagher Premiership

Gloucester (26) 36

Tries: Clement, Williams, Blake, Singleton, Wade, Hathaway Cons: Anscombe 3

Newcastle (0) 7

Tries: Blamire Cons: Connon

Gloucester got back to winning ways in the Premiership with a comprehensive victory over Newcastle Falcons.

After three successive high-scoring narrow defeats, a first home win of the season was never in doubt against the league's bottom side.

Tries from Jack Clement, Tomos Williams, Seb Blake and Jack Singleton had secured their bonus point by half-time.

Jamie Blamire's try got Newcastle on the scoreboard, before Christian Wade and Josh Hathaway added two more for Gloucester to wrap up a resounding triumph as they moved up to fifth in the table.

The Falcons had ended their wretched Premiership losing run of 25 games, lasting 581 days, with victory over Exeter Chiefs at Kingston Park.

They actually started this game with an identical win-loss record to their hosts in the table, but achieved in contrasting fashion.

Gloucester had conceded more points, but they had scored almost a century more with their electric attack, with three times as many tries, having scored at least four in every match.

And they made their intentions clear from the off as they kept the ball in hand, built up the phases and had flanker Clement going over in the corner inside three minutes.

It was not long before they had their second try, as Wade chased a kick from inside his own half, won the foot race and set up Wales scrum-half Williams to touch down under the posts.

If the first two tries were all about Gloucester's all-out attack, the third was an old-fashioned catch and drive, with replacement hooker Blake the man to get the ball down after a strong effort from the pack.

The speed of their game was relentless and Newcastle could not cope with this fast and loose approach as Singleton, back on after a head injury assessment, went over in the corner with the last move of the half after a great tip pass from captain Zach Mercer.

Newcastle consultant director of rugby Steve Diamond is desperate for his side to be more competitive in most games, but they are yet to pick up any bonus points this season.

Their last away win in the Premiership came at Kingsholm in November 2022, while it is now nine games on the road without scoring four tries or finishing within seven points.

The home side came off it for a short period early in the second half, but they still coped with a man less when Gareth Anscombe was given a yellow card.

Hooker Blamire did finally get Newcastle on the board with his third try in two games, but it only sparked Gloucester back to life.

Wade picked up Hathaway’s grubber kick and crossed to go solo fourth in the list of Premiership try-scorers with his 85th – still 16 behind record holder Chris Ashton.

And five minutes before the end, full-back Hathaway rounded off the scoring with Gloucester's sixth try of the game and 27th of the season to underline their thrilling approach.

'Basics let us down'

Gloucester director of rugby George Skivington told BBC Radio Gloucester:

"It's a game we needed to win. We've been in a position in a few games to win and not quite got over the line, so a big home fixture was important for us to go and get it.

"I'm pleased with the lads and today I'm probably more pleased with the set-piece and defensive attitude.

"When you play Newcastle, you know it's going to be gritty. That was the big focus of the week and we took a lot of lineout ball from them, our scrum was very good and our defensive attitude five metres out from the line was outstanding."

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

"We didn't show up in the first half. Our basics let us down and against a team like Gloucester, they've shown they are going to run the ball, and defensively we were all over the show.

"They're the most dominant team in the opposition 22 and we weren't able to put any pressure on them at all.

"The basics weren't good enough and that's unacceptable for us. We have a squad that doesn't cost as much but that doesn't excuse us from our doing our basic jobs."

Gloucester: Hathaway; Wade, Llewellyn, Atkinson, Thorley; Anscombe, Williams; Rapava-Ruskin, Singleton, Fasogbon, Clark, Thomas, Clement, Ludlow, Mercer.

Replacements: Blake, Ford-Robinson, Knight, Alemanno, Taylor, Englefield, Hillman-Cooper, Jones.

Sin-bin: Anscombe (51)

Newcastle: Hearle; Radwan, Doherty, Arnold, Stevenson; Grayson, Stuart; Brocklebank, Blamire, Palframan, Rubiolo, Hawkins, van der Walt, Gordon, Chick.

Replacements: Fletcher, de Bruin, McCallum, de Chaves, Lockwood, Davis, Connon, Hutchison.

Referee: Ian Tempest