NEWCASTLE FALCONS will take on Exeter Chiefs in the quarter-finals of the European Challenge Cup after successfully claiming a maximum five-point haul from their weekend trip to Romania.

Falcons needed just 34 minutes to claim the four-try bonus point they required against Bucharest Wolves, and a one-sided contest in Cluj eventually ended in a 52-10 win for Dean Richards’ side.

That guaranteed Newcastle a place in the last eight, and the weekend’s other results mean they will head to the South-West to face Exeter in the first knockout round on the weekend of April 2-5.

Their trip to Sandy Park will be considerably more daunting than their visit to the 31,000-capacity Cluj Arena, with Falcons’ superiority over the Romanian champions evident throughout a one-sided affair.

Having comfortably disposed of Bucharest at Kingston Park in the autumn, Newcastle’s players were in no mood to hang about as they set about the task of atoning for last weekend’s defeat to Newport Gwent Dragons and booking a quarter-final spot.

Prop Rob Vickers crossed for the opening try inside the first ten minutes, crashing through from close range in the left-hand corner.

Juan Pablo Socino added a second try in the 20th minute as he chased down Mark Wilson’s line break to offer support on the forward’s shoulder, and with Falcons continuing to dominate, Alex Tait celebrated last week’s contract extension in style as he exploited a huge overlap on the left-hand side.

One more try was needed for the bonus point, and it duly arrived just after the half-hour mark as a huge rolling maul left the Bucharest defence in disarray. Referee Neil Hennessy spotted an infringement, and his award of a penalty try effectively settled things. To compound Bucharest’s misery, home flanker Sean Morrell was sent to the sin bin.

With Tom Catterick converting all four tries, Falcons found themselves 28-10 up with Bucharest having scored courtesy of a converted try from centre Catalin Dascalu and a penalty from fly-half Daniel Statulescu.

The rest of the game was little more than a glorified training exercise, with Vickers claiming his second try in the left corner shortly before Tait doubled his own personal tally as he rounded off a slick passing move that owed much to some smart handling from Simon Hammersley.

Socino claimed his second try as he broke through to score in the corner, and the scoring was completed by Andy Davies’ try which came courtesy of a reverse pass from Richard Mayhew.

“It was a great performance from the boys,” said academy coach James Ponton, who took over first-team duties as Richards took a back seat. “Things didn’t go according to plan all the time, but they did for 99 per cent of it and the players went about their business in a very professional way.

“We stuck to the plan we laid out, we didn’t kick at goal and we knew that with time and pressure, we could create opportunities. We managed to do that.”

Newcastle Falcons: Hammersley (Clegg 60), Tait, Powell (Penny 64), Socino, Smith, Catterick, Tipuna (Davies 60); Vickers (Fry 52), Lawson (Hawkins 52), Brookes (Rogers 67), Green, Thompson (Robinson 40), R Mayhew, Welch, M Wilson (Saull 60).