Falcons academy manager John Fletcher said afterwards: That was typical Leicester, bringing line outs down, lying on top of the ball and giving away penalty after penalty in their own 22, but fair play to them they took their chances when they got them.
Our half back pairing of Lee Dickson and Toby Flood was outstanding, with Toby making a load of line breaks, while at No.8 Jason Smithson was the pick of the forwards doing what we all know he can do.
Overall that was actually a good game and we played well, although we can be much more clinical and there are a number of areas to work on.
Leicester had a big pack out there, and given that our props in the second half were an 18-year-old and a player leant from Tynedale, we coped pretty well and competed with them in every area.
It was Newcastle who started the brighter with a try as early as the second minute from hooker Stuart Mackie after prop Danny Brown pounced on the loose ball after a hack ahead and made a dive pass to Mackie on the burst.
Irish Sevens captain Ian Humphreys, brother of Irish legend David, nudged Tigers ahead with three penalties, while Dickson broke and spun away from the tackle well as Newcastle went through the hands.
James Hoyle probed well down the left flank after show-and-go from Flood, while openside Ed Williamson was held up over the line following a barnstorming rolling maul on the half hour as Newcastle muscled it up front and lock Ian Nimmo was sin-binned for an infringement at the ruck.
The pressure finally told on the Leicester pack when Scotland Under-21 lock Sean Tomes powered over for a try under a heap of bodies after a string of five-metre scrums, converted by fullback Andrew Skeen.
Centre Mark Wilkinson cleared his lines well as Leicester pressed towards the end of the half, but just before the interval Tigers went ahead as No.8 Dan Montagu touched down in the left corner following a quick move through the hands across the whole width of the field after Cameron Johnston had tracked back well to tackle Hipkiss.
Humphreys conversion made it 16-12 to the visitors at the interval, but straightaway in the second half the hosts went on the attack with a marvellous winding run from Hoyle out of midfield traffic inside his own half.
The former Sale Shark snaked his way fully 50 metres with a mixture of pace and side-stepping, before offloading out of the tackle to the supporting Flood for the score, converted by Skeen.
Newcastle only took four minutes to extend their lead with a well-taken try from replacement flanker Eni Gesinde after another Hoyle break and a scoring pass from Flood Skeen adding the extras as his side secured the four-try bonus point.
The Falcons continued the pressure with runs from flanker Mike McCarthy and good pick and drive work from Smithson, but Hipkiss grabbed the first of his two tries after a grubber kick from England Under-21 centre Matt Cornwell breached the Falcons line John Murphy converting.
Brown defused a cross field bomb as Leicester attacked again, but on 76 minutes Murphy touched down for the visitors after crash ball in the 22, converting his own score.
The closing stages saw continued pressure from the Falcons as Flood again broke the line, Hipkiss being sent to the sin bin on 80 minutes for killing the ball in what was one of a number of penalties conceded in close proximity to their line.
A succession of line outs and collapsed mauls yielded further penalties as an incredible 13 minutes of stoppage time ticked by, and with the try not forthcoming in a frustrating spell of play for the hosts, it was Leicester who had the last say when the returning Hipkiss touched down in the left corner to secure victory and a four-try bonus point for his side.
Falcons Academy:
Tries: Mackie, Tomes, Flood, Gesinde
Cons: Skeen 3
Leicester Tigers:
Tries: Hipkiss 2, Montagu, Murphy
Cons: Humphreys, Murphy 2
Pens: Humphreys 3
Falcons Academy:
15 Andrew Skeen (Tom Jokelson, 75)
14 Mark Laycock (Patrick Dias, 67)
13 James Hoyle
12 Mark Wilkinson
11 Cameron Johnston
10 Toby Flood
9 Lee Dickson (captain)
1 Danny Brown (Ross Batty, 65)
2 Stuart Mackie (Rob Vickers, 47)
3 David Wilson (Peter Southern, 40)
4 Luke Gross (Eni Gesinde, 40)
5 Sean Tomes
6 Mike McCarthy (Greg Irvin, 65)
7 Ed Williamson
8 Jason Smithson
Leicester Tigers:
15 John Murphy
14 Ollie Dodge (Ben Toft, 67)
13 Dan Hipkiss
12 Tom Youngs
11 Alex Dodge
10 Ian Humphreys (Matt Cornwell, 52)
9 Alex Wright (Rob Springall, 67)
1 Michael Holford
2 James Buckland (Ephraim Taukafa, 52)
3 Dave Young
4 Ian Nimmo
5 Leo Cullen (captain)
6 Tom Croft
7 Will Skinner (Marc Howgate, 40)
8 Dan Montagu
Referee: Iain Heard (SRU)
