SNATCHING victory with the last kick of the match offered surprising consolation for Newcastle yesterday in a Parker Pen Challenge Cup quarter-final which had long been beyond them.

They showed no conviction in the first half that they could overhaul a deficit of 21 points from the first leg, and if they were facing Ben Nevis at the start it had become Everest five minutes from the interval.

At that point Saracens led 12-0 against woeful opposition, and although converted tries either side of half-time sparked the Falcons into life they fell 29-14 behind before mounting a late rally.

They were elated at the final whistle, and Director of Rugby Rob Andrew said: "You have to work hard for any victory at this level and the players have a right to be pleased.

"We were focusing on trying to win this game and as a confidence-boosting exercise it was very important.

"We now have the best facilities in the Premiership but it doesn't mean anything if the team is not functioning.

"This competition is now over for us, and we have eight very big matches left to get out of trouble. We are working on making sure we stay in the Premiership as a first priority and keep professional rugby in the North East.

"Some of what we did today was very good and some was very poor. If we keep allowing the opposition to score so easily we will put ourselves under pressure, but to come back and keep working hard was pleasing.

"We lacked fluency but the pitch was difficult after the heavy overnight rain and we changed things at half-time so that the forwards took more control of the game."

The second half transformation also resulted partly from the decision to replace Mark Wilkinson with Phil Godman at centre, while Epi Taione had some impact when he went on after 45 minutes and the Falcons also began to get their most potent attacker, Michael Stephenson, into the game.

Until they began to play rugby of a decent quality in the last 15 minutes, the problems facing Newcastle were all too obvious.

Despite the fact there are only four home matches left in the bid for Premiership survival, only 2,439 fans were scattered around the magnificent stadium.

Most of them must have wished they had stayed at home during a poor first half, in which the Falcons could hardly string a move together.

Jonny Wilkinson's first home appearance for three months failed to provide any spark, partly because he appeared to have little understanding with his brother.

Andrew's attempts to justify signing Wilkinson senior must surely now be at an end as Mark Mayerhofler will return, along with other recent recruits, for the Premiership game at home to Harlequins in two weeks.

No 8 Hugh Vyvyan was his usual lively self and his surge from a line-out set up the position from which Jonny Wilkinson could have given the Falcons a lead, but amazingly he missed the penalty from 32 metres.

That was his only blemish as he converted all four tries, two of them from the touchline, then landed the straightforward winning penalty.

Saracens went ahead after 20 minutes when centre Ben Johnston took an inside pass and side-stepped a tackle to score by the posts.

The highlight of Newcastle's first half efforts came when they drove a maul 25 metres from their own half. It broke up in a scuffle and the Falcons kicked the resulting penalty to the corner, only to lose the ball at the line-out.

Saracens showed them how it is done with a catch-and-drive try before the Falcons scored after 40 minutes when winger Liam Botham took a blind side pass from James Grindal at pace and forced his way over from ten metres.

After the break another blind side pass from scrum half Grindal saw Vyvyan score in the left corner, with the conversion putting Newcastle ahead.

But any hint that they could scale Everest vanished as Saracens' classy French international Thomas Castaignede joined the line from full back and provided a perfect pass for winger Tom Shanklin to score.

Andy Goode added the conversion then a penalty and when flanker Phil Dowson was off-side at the restart the Falcons were quickly back under pressure.

There was some relief when Taione came away from a driving maul with the ball, but a break on halfway by former Australia centre Tim Horan set up another Saracens try for replacement flanker Ben Russell.

Newcastle's two late tries both came from catch-and-drives through prop Ian Peel and replacement hooker Matt Thompson.

It showed they have the power and expertise to compete up front, and with South African lock Mark Andrews adding his bulk, the biggest task for Andrew in the survival fight is to get the backs to perform up to the huge potential they showed two years ago.

Result: Newcastle Falcons 31 Saracens 29.