NEWCASTLE FALCONS cruised to the top of their Anglo-Welsh Cup pool as they thrashed Welsh side Cardiff Blues 57-0 at Kingston Park.

Falcons recorded a rare shut-out as they completely outclassed their under-strength opponents, with the performance setting them up nicely for the resumption of the Aviva Premiership programme next weekend and a trip to Wasps.

It took Newcastle 22 minutes to open the scoring at the weekend, with scrum-half Michael Young profiting from Joel Hodgson’s quick line break, but the try opened the floodgates.

Sinoti Sinoti and Mark Wilson also scored tries before the interval, with a first-half penalty try ensuring the home side headed to the changing rooms with a four-try bonus point already guaranteed.

There was no let-up in the second period, with Sinoti scoring his second try of the game and Hodgson, Adam Radwan, Alex Tait and Gary Graham also crossing the whitewash to cap an emphatic win.

“When we play our game with accuracy and precision we’re very good,” said Falcons defence coach John Wells. “The challenge for us a side is imposing our style on the opposition more than they can impose theirs onto us.

“There are a variety of ways we can do that, and I have to say when we did it (against Cardiff) we scored some very good tries.

“We didn’t see enough of that in the first 25 minutes, but we showed that when we are accurate and we stick to our script, we’ve got very good players who can cause danger to the opposition.”