Worcester 39 Falcons 5
The hosts led 15-5 at the interval but it was the Falcons who opened the scoring, crossing the line with their third close-range lineout after a pair of earlier attempts had been thwarted by a fired-up Warriors outfit.
A sixth-minute penalty saw them kicking to the right corner, from where hooker George McGuigan scored his fourth try of the season.
The home side snatched the lead just before the quarter mark when a pair of penalties in the Falcons’ red zone eventually saw Alex Hearle dotting down – the winger hitting a hard line off fly-half to score between the posts.
Billy Searle added the simple conversion, and it got even better for his side on 25 minutes when Duhan van der Merwe caught a long, looping pass to score an unconverted try in the left corner as his team played advantage to good effect.
The Falcons were reduced to 14 men on the half-hour when Cameron Nordli-Kelemeti was sin-binned for not retreating at a quick tap penalty, but they thwarted Worcester’s attempt at a third try when the Warriors kicked a penalty to the corner only for Sebastian de Chaves to steal the set-piece.
The hosts had to turn to the boot for their next points on 36 minutes when Searle slotted a penalty from 30 metres out in front, and 15-5 remained the half-time score when the Falcons were denied a try by the TMO after straying offside at a close-range driving maul.
Newcastle began the second half with gusto, Adam Radwan running the ball out of his own 22 and enjoying forward support from Callum Chick, Sean Robinson and Connor Collett.
The Warriors managed to defend the maul threat when the Falcons kicked a penalty to the left corner, and Radwan came close to a second Falcons try when he was just in touch fielding Connon’s cross-field kick under advantage.
Trevor Davison was held up over the try-line after a back peel at the resulting line-out, but Worcester were making their opportunities count and extended their lead to 13 points on the hour mark when Searle struck a penalty from 35 metres out, left of centre.
They added a further seven on 65 minutes when scrum-half Gareth Simpson collected an inside pass to score a converted try between the posts, and were denied a fourth when the TMO ruled out a Van der Merwe claim in the left corner.
Matt Kvesic crossed for try number four on 71 minutes with some hard running down the left, Joe Batley’s late try rounding off a disappointing afternoon for the Falcons.
**Newcastle Falcons:** 15 Alex Tait (Tom Penny, 61), 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Ben Stevenson, 12 George Wacokecoke, 11 Mateo Carreras, 10 Brett Connon (Tian Schoeman, 61), 9 Cameron Nordli-Kelemeti (Josh Barton, 68); 1 Phil Brantingham (Adam Brocklebank, 40), 2 George McGuigan (captain, Charlie Maddison, 68), 3 Trevor Davison (Mark Tampin, 68), 4 Greg Peterson (George Merrick, 52), 5 Sebastian de Chaves, 6 Sean Robinson, 7 Connor Collett (Jamie Blamire, 58), Callum Chick.
**Scorers -** Tries: George McGuigan.
**Worcester Warriors:** 15 Jamie Shillcock, 14 Alex Hearle (Noah Heward, 68), 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Francois Venter (captain, Oli Morris, 71), 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Billy Searle, 9 Gareth Simpson (Will Chudley, 71), 1 Murray McCallum (Kai Owen, 73), 2 Curtis Langdon (Hame Faiva, 64), 3 Jay Tyack (Jack Owlett, 73), 4 Joe Batley, 5 Andrew Kitchener (Graham Kitchener, 64), 6 Fergus Lee-Warner, 7 Cameron Neild (Matt Kvesic, 61), 8 Tom Dodd.
**Scorers -** Tries: Alex Hearle, Duhan van der Merwe, Gareth Simpson, Matt Kvesic, Joe Batley. Conversions: Billy Searle 4. Penalties: Billy Searle 2.
**Referee:** Adam Leal.
