Falcons roar into last four

9:46am Monday 7th April 2008

Newcastle Falcons 40 Castres 13

NEWCASTLE boss Steve Bates was full of praise for his side after they clinched a European Challenge Cup semi-final spot with a 40-13 over Castres at Kingston Park.

The Falcons scored five tries in their best display of the season to end a five-match losing run.

I'm really pleased with the way the boys played,'' said Bates.

We had a really good first half and turning round 14-13 up in those conditions was really excellent.

We pretty much dominated in most phases of the game. Our defence was outstanding."

Bates is looking forward to the last-four clash away to Worcester, even though some of his players struggled through the tie against Castres.

We do have a couple injuries and hope to sort them out before the semi. We can go into it with a lot of confidence,'' he added.

Jamie Noon had a bit of recurrence of his ankle injury and he fell awkwardly when he nearly scored but we will look after him and make sure he is OK.

I thought the pack were outstanding and Tom Dillon went on for Noon and showed what he can do."

The result means our season is still very much alive but we do have a lot to work on for next season. I'm very excited by the potential. Tonight was a step in the right direction but we can be far more clinical.'' Snow showers greeted Castres, but Newcastle had to play into the wind in the first half.

After conceding an early penalty to Romain Teulet, the Falcons went ahead with a fourth-minute try when Toby Flood surged through and floated a long pass out to John Rudd, who scored in the corner.

A quick line-out led to a try for Castres lock Iosefa Tekori, but Jonny Wilkinson hit back with a penalty two minutes later.

Newcastle lost Ben Woods to the sin bin in the 21st minute for diving in. It looked a harsh decision, but Teulet made it 13-8 with the penalty.

Mathew Tait exploded out of his own 22, and both Rudd and Tom May nearly broke through.

But Castres counter-attacked, and Tait had to move smartly to race back and collect a kick.

Another terrific break almost put Noon through. But with a penalty signalled, Wilkinson calmly dropped a goal then slotted a 40-metre penalty right on half-time to edge the Falcons 14- 13 ahead.

The second half started with Dillon darting down the right wing and prop Carl Hayman piling in to pick up and score in the corner. Wilkinson converted from the touchline.

Then Dillon collected Wilkinson's grubber-kick to score andwhen Teulet's chip ahead was scooped up by James Grindal there was no-one to stop the scrum-half going under the posts. There was still time for Toby Flood to spin out of the tackle and send in Brent Wilson for the fifth try, and Wilkinson duly slotted the extras.

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