Even a three to one try count in Newcastle's favour could not propel the Falcons Development Team to victory at Percy Park, as five penalties saw Leeds Carnegie sneak the spoils in Monday night's pre-season friendly.

Tries from Eni Gesinde, Andy Long and Johnny Williams looked to have wrapped up proceedings for the hosts in a competitive 80 minutes, but two late penalties from replacement fly half Tom Whitaker wereenough to send the Yorkshiremen home with the win.

A fast and fluent start had seen the Falcons dominate the early exchanges with the lively Gesinde making a host of breaks in the loose, while fullback Alex Tait cleared his lines superbly with his huge right boot.

Indeed it was only four minutes in when the first try came the way of the Falcons, a solid line out drive with the impressive Pete Browne to the fore seeing hooker Andy Long shoved over the try line down the left hand side.

England Under-18s fly half Rob Miller added the extras from out wide, but the boot of opposite number James Brooks – the former London Wasps man – got Leeds off the mark as he drilled a well-taken long range penalty.

Leeds Carnegie then stole the lead courtesy of an interception from Andy Rock, who benefited from slack handling in the Newcastle ranks to race 50 metres for the converted score.

A messy and chaotic closing spell to the first half saw Gesinde's line out pressure steal a number of Leeds throws, but the boot of Brooks, with two further penalties, took the visitors in to the interval at 16-7 to the good.

A fired-up Newcastle side came out for the second half with flanker Ed Williamson making his presence felt with a string of solid carries in an industrious personal performance.

But it was his fellow Cornish Pirate loan player, Gesinde, who made the telling contribution as he won a towering line out on half way for Ollie Phillips to break- Gesinde then rejoining the move to take the scoring pass and dive over in the left corner.

Miller's attempted conversion drifted wide of the uprights, but the England Under-18s man made no mistake with his next strike as a penalty from the right hand side got the hosts to within one point.

With forward pressure taking its toll on the Leeds pack after a string of punishing rolling mauls on their own line, the Yorkshiremen were reduced to 14 men when giant prop Fosi Pala'amo was sin-binned on his debut for an indiscretion in the tight.

Almost immediately the Falcons made the extra man pay as replacement prop Williams rolled over from an unstoppable maul for what looked like the winning score.

But it was not to be, as Whitaker's late brace of penalties -both from in front of the posts, sealed the game for Leeds.

Falcons Development XV:

Tries: Long, Gesinde, Williams
Cons: Miller
Pens: Miller

Leeds Carnegie:

Tries: Rock
Cons: Brooks
Pens: Brooks 3, Whitaker 2

Falcons Development XV:

15 Alex Tait
14 Ollie Phillips
13 James Hoyle
12 Adam Dehaty
11 Tim Visser
10 Rob Miller
9 Hall Charlton (captain)

1 Joe McDonnell
2 Andy Long
3 Jon Golding
4 Andy Perry
5 Pete Browne
6 Eni Gesinde
7 Ed Williamson
8 Brent Wilson

Replacements:

Johnny Williams
Ross Batty
David Wilson
Tim Swinson
Graeme Dunn
Phil Dawson
Micky Young
Paddy Dias
Charles Rayner
Jack Harrison

Leeds Carnegie:

15 Peter Wackett
14 Andy Rock
13 Tom Rock
12 Apolosi Satala
11 Scott Armstrong
10 James Brooks
9 Mike Aspinall

1 Fosi Pala'amo
2 Vili Ma'asi
3 Tommy McGee
4 Tom Denton
5 Erik Lund
6 Danny Paul
7 Calum Clark
8 Sam Stitcher

Replacements:

Chris Steel
Phil Nilsen
Mark Anderson
Tom Whitaker
Richard Vasey
Dan White
Luther Burrell