Back row trio shine on Falcons' big day

It would be difficult to choose between Hugh Vyvyan, Andrew Mower and Epi Taione as man of the match as the Falcons ended a run of seven Premiership defeats with an exhilarating second half performance.

There has been much tinkering in the key area of back row this season, with only partial success, and this was the first time this trio had played together.

Although there are nearly always questions over Mower's fitness, Rob Andrew will want to retain the same combination for Friday night's match at Leeds.

That means there can be no place for South African Warren Britz or New Zealander Craig Newby, but their arrival will not be seen as a waste of money if Newcastle escape the drop.

The newcomers have clearly added to the motivating factors which produced this much-improved display in front of a crowd of 6,109.

Mower, who was injured at the start of the season then went on loan to the Borders, now has the additional motivation of Scotland's open side berth being up for grabs following Budge Pountney's angry walk-out.

Taione, who played in three of the first four games but was making only his fourth start since, may have been fired up by rumours that he was to be loaned to Darlington Mowden Park.

Andrew preferred the following explanation: "He has shown signs in the last three weeks of the old Epi reappearing and we thought he would respond to the big occasion."

Sky TV witnessed the big occasion, with the official opening of the packed 3,800-seat West Stand and its hospitality boxes, whose occupants included Ian Botham and Paul Gascoigne.

There wasn't too much to enthrall them early on, other than the beavering Mower putting in important tackles one minute and scrapping to win the ball the next.

But after giving away a soft try to go 10-6 down midway through the half, Newcastle stepped it up to lead 13-10 at the break and stretched it to 32-10 before Quins scored at the death.

South African lock Mark Andrews brought solidity to the engine room in the 50 minutes he stayed on, and the spin-off from his arrival is that Vyvyan now has the chance to press his claims as an England No 8.

He has spent much of the last two years in the second row, but on Saturday he outplayed one of the top No 8s in England, Tony Diprose,

Quins have not won a Premiership match away from home for 23 months and their stars failed to shine here, with Will Greenwood retiring at half-time while the recently-returned Dan Luger hardly saw the ball.

But this should not detract from the Falcons' efforts, with Andrew saying: "We have played well in patches but over 80 minutes this was our best of the season.

"We were pretty sharp and focused, and we were defensively organised. There's a lot to build on and if we can get the same sort of side out on a regular basis we can get better.

"Mark Andrews added physical presence, composure and stature and that helped everybody. It has been a good day on and off the field and I'm happier than I was a month ago."

With four tries giving them a bonus point, Newcastle took five points from the match and cut the gap to two at the bottom as Bath lost 15-8 at home to Leicester. They earned a bonus point for keeping the margin to seven.

The Falcons can now move off bottom spot by winning at Leeds as Bath visit leaders Gloucester next weekend.

The one small cloud was that Jonny Wilkinson took a bang on his shoulder at the end of the match and looked in some discomfort.

He is not yet back to his best following his six-week lay-off with the shoulder injury he suffered against South Africa and missed a penalty and a conversion he would normally land.

But he is getting used to playing with James Grindal, again preferred to Hall Charlton, and there was nothing wrong with his distribution.

Several times his long passes gave outside centre Jamie Noon just enough space to exploit and Michael Stephenson also showed there is no substitute for pace in unlocking defences.

Both scored thrilling tries, which have been in short supply this season, and the presence of New Zealand centre Mark Mayerhofler had much to do with it.

But perhaps the most spectacular moment came when Taione burst from a maul ten metres inside his own half and stormed away like a turbo-charged rhino.

He was five metres short when Quins brought him to a reluctant halt and he lost the ball, but his retention was much better than it has been.

Wilkinson's second penalty saw him add a Zurich Golden Boot to his burgeoning collection of awards as only the third person to pass 1,000 Premiership points, following Paul Grayson and Tim Stimpson.

Opposite number Paul Burke kicked a penalty and converted the first of hooker Tani Fuga's two tries, which stemmed from a charged down kick, to give Quins the lead.

But the Falcons' response was immediate as they turned the ball over on the restart and Liam Botham came off his wing to make a nice break before passing inside for lock Stuart Grimes to cover 15 metres to the posts.

Botham also featured in the early second half try, taking a pass from Vyvyan to make ground up the wing before passing inside to hooker Nick Makin. He all but made the line, and Vyvyan followed up to plunge over in the corner.

Wilkinson's touchline conversion gave Newcastle a ten-point cushion and eased the tension as they began to play with more freedom.

Noon's try stemmed from a blistering break from just inside his own half. He exchanged passes with Vyvyan before accelerating again to evade despairing tackles over the last 20 metres.

Finally Mayerhofler cleverly offloaded in the tackle to find Stephenson at pace and the winger raced over before Quins applied late pressure and Fuga scored from close range in the seventh minute of injury time.

Result: Newcastle Falcons 32 Harlequins 17.