THE BRILLIANCE of half backs Jonny Wilkinson and Gary Armstrong yesterday earned Newcastle Falcons a Tetley's Bitter Cup quarter-final at home to London Irish.

They trailed 16-15 to Bristol with 12 minutes left, but Wilkinson's sixth penalty put them ahead and Armstrong capped a superb display with a cheeky try to seal the fifth round victory.

But former Falcons skipper Dean Ryan was seething about a decision by referee Ashley Rowden which he felt had turned the game.

Now concentrating on coaching Bristol - he wasn't even on the bench - Ryan said: "We have an extremely disappointed dressing room.

"We were leading 13-12 when we tapped down our own line-out ball and our No 10 was penalised.

"The referee said he was encroaching and he had done it for the previous three line-outs. It was an incredible decision and it changed the game because we had to take gambles after working so hard to keep them out."

The No 10 in question was former West Hartlepool fly half Steve Vile, who scored all Bristol's points with three penalties, a try and a conversion.

But he also missed two penalties while Wilkinson had a 100 per cent record, landing one penalty from five metres inside his own half and regaining the lead at 18-16 with one across the wind from the right touchline.

With seven minutes left Doddie Weir won a line-out and Armstrong sold a huge dummy before racing through the Bristol forwards to score in the left corner.

Wilkinson converted and was also on target after flanker Andy Mower burst on to a pass from Armstrong to score at the death.

Despite Ryan's complaint, the game could still have gone either way as Bristol came straight back with Vile's third penalty to go back in front.

Also it wasn't the only strange decision by Mr Rowden. He ignored a cynical poke of the foot by Garath Archer as a ruck was breaking up, then overruled a touch judge who flagged for blatant stamping by another Bristol forward.

Archer was one of four Durham School products in the match, with Bristol full back Lee Best outshining his strangely subdued opposite number, Michael Stephenson.

The fourth was hooker Billy Balshen, who was on for 12 minutes after Mike Howe suffered a gashed head in the first minute, then took over at half-time.

Newcastle also sent on Inga Tuigamala for Epi Taione at the break, but he couldn't get into the game after his month's rest and his first act was to stray off-side, enabling Vile to stretch Bristol's lead to 13-6.

None of the three kicks with which Wilkinson overhauled the deficit were easy, but it was the second one which really underlined his ability.

"The wind was slightly favouring us at the time," he said modestly as he admitted it was probably the longest penalty he has kicked.

"I started it a bit to the left and it drifted in.

"The wind was quite difficult, but I get plenty of chance to practise here in those conditions.

"I'm trying to add a bit more length to my kicking and I'll be out again practising at Twickenham tomorrow."

With his protg within earshot Director of Rugby Rob Andrew said he felt Wilkinson's display was "about par", then added that he could not speak highly enough of Armstrong.

"Gary is a phenomenal character," he said.

"He is still full of life and enthusiasm and his professionalism and his attitude are still the same as when he joined us five years ago and people said he was finished then."

The Falcons went ahead after seven minutes, then Vile missed his first kick only for Bristol scrum half Gareth Baber to launch a swift attack up the right on the restart.

Ben Sturnham took the attack into the 22 but was stopped in full cry by a shudering tackle from opposing No 8 Ross Beattie.

The highlight of the first half came when Wilkinson broke from his 22 and passed inside to Hugh Vyvyan.

The athletic lock had a clear 60-metre run to the line but after galloping for a third of the distance he realised Luke Nabaro was closing him down and threw out a huge pass, which narrolwy failed to find Weir.

Wilkinson made it 6-0 after 17 minutes the a powerful run by Taione ended with him being harshly penalised for not releasing.

Bristol swiftly countered for Vile to land a penalty and with half-time approaching Taione made the mistake of trying to run out of defence.

He lost the ball and Bristol moved it left then right for Vile to squeeze in at the corner, adding a superb conversion across the wind.

Despite an excellent performance from centre Tom May, the Falcons could not get their back three involved and rarely looked like breaking down Bristol's resolute defence.

It seemed they would have to rely on Wilkinson's boot, but once Scotsman Armstrong had broken Bristol's resistance it was no surprise that another try followed for the impressive Mower.