Season Recap: January 2015
The Falcons opened 2015 away to Northampton, Chris Harris bagging an Aviva Premiership Try of the Week on his first league start and fellow Senior Academy member Tom Penny coming off the bench to make his own Aviva Premiership debut.
However, despite a fantastic performance including additional tries from George McGuigan, Alex Tait and Richard Mayhew as well as a string of successful kicks from Tom Catterick, it was Saints that emerged 39-31 victors, Falcons having to make do with a single four try bonus point.
The following weekend saw club legend Tom May join the Falcons 100 Club on the week he announced his retirement from the game. May then made his last Premiership appearance at his old stomping ground, leading London Welsh out at KP for a game that would result in a 38-7 home victory.
Sinoti Sinoti opened the scoring for the Falcons 14 minutes in and went on to claim the day’s man of the match award after a sublime performance, with subsequent tries coming from Rob Vickers, Mike Blair, Will Welch, Ally Hogg and Tom Catterick.
As Argentine Prop Juan Pablo Orlandi joined the club from Bath, Premiership Rugby stats revealed that the Falcons were leading the way in many fields, Sinoti Sinoti having made the most metres of any attacker across the league.
After a fantastic league run, the A Team put in a valiant effort in the Aviva A League semi final against Saracens Storm, but lost out 46-35 in a 12 try thriller despite a strong kicking game from both Rory Clegg and Phil Godman and tries from Chris York, Alex Rogers and Rob Hawkins, as well as a Falcons penalty try.
Rugby League officially came to Kingston Park as the Falcons’ partner club changed its name to Newcastle Thunder and announced the Falcons’ stadium as their new home for 2015 and beyond.
The return of European rugby saw the Falcons fight back from a 32 point deficit at home to Newport Gwent Dragons, but it wasn’t enough, the Welsh region taking the spoils from a 29-40 match.
However the group stages of the competition ended well for Newcastle as the team booked their place in the knock out stages of the competition with a 10-52 victory against Bucharest Wolves during a memorable trip to Cluj; Rob Vickers, Socino and Alex Tait each collecting a brace of tries while Andy Davies scored his first for the club.
And finally, there was good news on the contract front as captain Will Welch, Tom Catterick, Alex Tait, Ally Hogg and Will Witty all signed new two year deals with the club, showcasing the Falcons’ dedication to retaining strong home grown talent.
In a big moment for the club’s Community Foundation, Number Eight Callum Chick became the first product of the Land Rover Premiership Rugby Cup competition to sign a full time professional contract as he joined up with the Falcons’ Senior Academy for 2015/16.
