Three late tries saw Newcastle Falcons’ Under-17s edging an end-to-end encounter against Yorkshire Academy Under-17s on Wednesday at Kingston Park.

Leading 19-12 at the break, the home side were pulled level with five minutes remaining but found another gear to close out the result.

The young Falcons opened the scoring 14 minutes in after an enterprising start – scrum-half Joe Syson darting into the right corner.

Slick hands down the short-side rounded off the move in support of a line-break from fly-half Ted Fletcher and winger Jonny Douglas, with the passage of play having started deep in Newcastle’s own half.

Fletcher’s touchline conversion attempt into a stiff wind fell just short of the crossbar, and a healthy Kingston Park crowd was vocal in its appreciation of a home side looking to play in a positive, attacking manner.

The approach was perhaps a little too cavalier on the 20-minute mark when a loose offload in front of their own posts saw Yorkshire mopping up the loose ball to score an unconverted try, drawing the sides level.

Centre Matty Dunn crashed over to put the home side back in the lead when a close-range penalty was tapped and worked infield – the Dame Allan’s and Percy Park back hitting a hard midfield line to score between the posts.

Fletcher added the simple conversion, and within two minutes they were even further ahead after open-side Charlie Evans hit a well-timed diagonal angle from the left and scythed through the defence for another converted try.

Yorkshire responded with their second try as a tap penalty 40 metres out saw a sequence of offloads before their inside centre straightened the line and finished off the move – the conversion cutting the Falcons’ half-time lead to 19-12.

Newcastle came out firing for the second half and recorded their fourth try just two minutes after the resumption when replacement Toby Sommersall showed fine support play down the left to round off a two-on-one.

The visitors hit back in a frenetic game when a series of offloads down the left enabled their outside centre to scamper in, and they narrowed the gap to two points when their blind-side flanker galloped into the same corner having received an offload ten metres out.

The young Falcons calmed home nerves when replacement winger Jackson Bell powered in for a try at the right corner, barrelling through a pair of defenders after a five-metre scrum was worked to the width from a central position.

Even when Yorkshire drew level late on, home flanker Aadesh Sahadevan powered over for a converted try which sealed the result in the Falcons’ favour.

Winger Jonny Douglas and replacement Will Moor removed all doubt with tries right at the death, Newcastle narrowly missing out on the half-century when their touchline conversion attempt was wide by millimetres.

Newcastle Falcons U17s v Yorkshire

15 Rhu Hill (Stokesley School, Billingham)

14 Alex Dickie (Queen Elizabeth High School, Blaydon)

13 Ewan Jobling (RGS Newcastle)

12 Matty Dunn (Dame Allan’s, Percy Park)

11 Jonny Douglas (Gosforth Academy, Tynedale)

10 Ted Fletcher (Newcastle School for Boys, Tynedale)

9 Joe Syson (Northfield School & Sports College, Billingham)

1 Nathan Rickerby (Keswick School, Keswick RFC)

2 Josh Doran (Keswick School, Keswick RFC)

3 Myles Alder (Bede Sixth Form College, Darlington Mowden Park)

4 Matty Johnson (Newcastle School for Boys, Blaydon RFC)

5 Dom Henderson (George Stepheson, Whitley Bay Rockcliff)

6 Aadesh Sahadevan (RGS Newcastle)

7 Charlie Evans (Northfield School & Sports College, Billingham)

8 Jonathon Broadbent

Replacements

16 Theo Stephenson (Kirkbie Kendal school , Kirkby Lonsdale)

17 Will Aldersley (Sedbergh School)

18 Adam Rocks (Park View Academy, Blaydon RFC)

19 Angus Middlemist (The Duchess Community High School, Alnwick)

20 Harry Nordenfeldt (Newcastle School for Boys)

21 Toby Sommersall (Newcastle School for Boys)

22 Kian Ameer-Beg (Newcastle School for Boys , Blaydon RFC)

23 Will Moor (Longridge Towers School, Berwick)

24 Jackson Bell (Northfield School & Sports College, Billingham)