Gloucester 21 Falcons 27
The visitors began the game positively and built a 24-7 half-time lead, going ahead on seven minutes when Adam Radwan hit an outside arc from 50 metres out before and out-pacing the home defence to score in the right corner.
Brett Connon added the touchline conversion, the momentum continuing when teenage flanker Guy Pepper won a jackal penalty inside his own half on his starting debut.
Newcastle doubled their lead on 14 minutes when a short-side break and offload from skipper Michael Young enabled Callum Chick to score down the left – the No.8 showing immense power to reach out from contact and ground the ball for the converted try.
Even when Gloucester kicked a penalty to the right corner the Falcons stole the line-out and cleared to safety, and the natives were growing increasingly restless on the half-hour when Brett Connon slotted a penalty from right of centre after a period of flowing phase play was ended by a no-arms tackle.
The wave of green continued to cause chaos, earning their third try on 33 minutes when Connon’s outstanding touchfinder set up a line-out five metres out down the left, from which George McGuigan was driven over for a trademark try.
Connon again nailed the conversion, but the Falcons’ line was finally breached on 37 minutes when the hosts kicked a penalty to the right corner and worked a short-side play for Tom Seabrook to score.
George Barton’s conversion cut Newcastle’s half-time lead to 24-7, the visitors starting the second half with gusto as Elliott Obatoyinbo kicked intelligently to the corner and their solid set-piece continued to deliver quality ball.
Scrum-half Michael Young’s intelligent game management was keeping them in their right areas, and even when the hosts kicked a 50th minute penalty into touch the Newcastle line-out rose to the challenge of stealing back the ball.
George McGuigan’s sin-binning on 56 minutes for collapsing a maul handed Gloucester another line-out in the left corner, but the Falcons just would not yield and managed to hold up the home attacker over the try-line from the subsequent phase.
Sean Robinson joined McGuigan in the sin-bin following another close-range maul infringement, and the two-man advantage helped enable Gloucester’s second try when replacement Cam Jordan scored from a pick-and-go near the posts on 63 minutes.
Barton added the simple conversion, but Newcastle showed sound scoreboard and clock management when Connon made full use of his allotted time to slot a penalty just after the re-start.
The quickfire sin-binnings of Callum Chick and Tom Penny handed Gloucester a two-man advantage for the dying stages, and the hosts registered a penalty from a collapsed maul with eight minutes remaining to leave them down by six at full-time.
**Newcastle Falcons:** 15 Elliott Obatoyinbo, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Ben Stevenson, 12 Tom Penny (Ewan Greenlaw, 33-40), 11 Nathan Earle, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Michael Young (captain, Sam Stuart, 71); 1 Logovi’i Mulipola (Adam Brocklebank, 50), 2 George McGuigan, 3 Richard Palframan (Mark Tampin, 57), 4 George Merrick (Josh Peters, 60), 5 Sebastian de Chaves, 6 Freddie Lockwood (Sean Robinson, 50), 7 Guy Pepper, 8 Callum Chick.
**Scorers -** Tries: Adam Radwan, Callum Chick, George McGuigan. Conversions: Brett Connon 3. Penalties: Brett Connon 2.
**Gloucester:** 15 Kyle Moyle, 14 Tom Seabrook, 13 Jack Reeves, 12 Billy Twelvetrees, 11 Jake Morris, 10 Lloyd Evans (GeorgeBarton, 31), 9 Charlie Chapman (Ben Meehan, 56); 1 Harry Elrington (Ciaran Knight, 40), 2 Santiago Socino (Jack Singleton, 40), 3 Fraser Balmain (Kirill Gotovtsev, 57), 4 Freddie Clarke, 5 Andrew Davidson (Cam Jordan, 50), 6 Jordy Reid (Jack Clement, 57), 7 Lewis Ludlow (captain), 8 Ruan Ackermann.
**Scorers -** Tries: Tom Seabrook, Cam Jordan, Penalty try. Conversions: George Barton 2. Penalties: .
**Referee:** Anthony Woodthorpe. **Attendance:** 11,482.
