JONNY Wilkinson is back, but the mystery of Newcastle Falcons' home form deepened last night with their third defeat of the season at Kingston Park.

It left them next to the bottom of the Guinness Premiership, despite Wilkinson kicking four second half penalties to haul them back from 23-8 down and set up a thrilling climax.

Two of the penalties were magnificent efforts as the World Cup hero completed his fifth successive match, but it was still a disappointing night for the Falcons in front of the Sky TV cameras.

Barry Everitt, the Irish fly half who has proved a thorn in Falcons' flesh before, gave his side a 16-8 half-time lead by kicking three penalties and setting up a try just before the interval.

When the Falcons conceded a pushover try from a five-metre scrum soon afterwards it finally lit the blue touch paper and they stormed straight back for Wilkinson to begin punishing the visitors' infringements.

His first penalty was a superb effort from 45 metres wide on the right, and once he had added a more straightforward one the gap was down to nine points with 30 minutes left.

The third came ten minutes later to set up a pulsating finish for the capacity crowd of 10,200, who were on their feet when Wilkinson's fourth effort sailed majestically over from a metre inside his own half.

The fireworks which accompanied the teams' arrival on the pitch were not matched by the players for the first 20 minutes of sparring.

Falcons' scrum half James Grindal often found himself under pressure and although they tried to run the ball, even from their own 22, there was little fluency.

There was a scare when Wilkinson's desperation to create something saw him fling a hurried pass, which went to ground and allowed Irish to move it quickly to the right, where winger Delon Armitage raced from halfway before being superbly tackled by Matt Burke five metres short.

A perfectly-weighted grubber kick by Wilkinson pinned the visitors in their 22 after ten minutes and after a good line-out take by Geoff Parling the Falcons drove almost to the line.

When the ball came back inside centre Toby Flood took Wilkinson's short pass on the burst, only to run straight into a tackle. Then the other centre, Mathew Tait, had a go for the line and Irish fell off-side to present Wilkinson with an easy three points.

His opposite number, Everitt, replied five minutes later after Irish drove a line-out 20 metres from halfway before the maul went down.

Irish dropped the restart and from the scrum good handling, with Burke in the line, allowed Tom May a run on the right wing before he was bundled into touch.

Although Irish won the line-out, the Falcons drove them back to earn the put-in at a scrum in the right corner. They moved the ball out and recycled it twice for Tait's nicely-delayed pass to give Burke the space to shrug off a tackle and go in at the corner.

Wilkinson's conversion attempt hung up on the wind, which had obligingly dropped in time for kick-off. But conditions were still a little greasy, which may have accounted for some dropped passes by both sides.

Leading 8-3 after 22 minutes, the Falcons failed to exert any kind of control against a beefed-up pack who have helped Irish pick up momentum after a slow start to the season.

Everitt landed well-struck penalties from 45 and 40 metres to put them in front after 37 minutes, then came the defensive lapse which allowed Everitt, from a standing start 30 metres out, to skip between two tackles.

He turned the ball back inside for Mike Catt to send full back Riki Flutey under the posts, Everitt's conversion being followed by the half-time whistle.

Five minutes after the restart the Falcons fired another bullet into their own feet when hasty handling saw the ball go to ground and Catt hacked on from halfway.

It looked like a race between the ex-England man and Falcons' new winger, James Hoyle, but Tait got back to slide into the ball and carry it over the line, only for the pushover try to follow, touched down by No 8 Phil Murphy.

After Wilkinson kicked his first two penalties the Falcons sent on Barnard Castle School product Lee Dickson at scrum half, but when a scoring opportunity arose his quick, flat pass was too low for Flood, who knocked on.

It was just another handling error on a night when the Falcons' hopes of thrilling the crowd with some exhilarating rugby were frustrated by a combination of their own anxiety and deetermined opponents.

It was left to Wilkinson to try to salvage something, but even he is fallible and his attempt to level the scores with a drop goal ten minutes from time was pushed wide and there were no further opportunities.

l Jason Robinson produced a devastating masterclass in finishing as Sale Sharks overcame high-flying Worcester to record their fifth-successive Guinness Premiership victory.

The former England captain notched a superb try in either half and added a late drop goal as the Sharks overcame the absence of ten players to edge seven points clear after a 24-13 win.

Sale were missing seven players on international duty and a further three absent through injury and suspension, but Robinson's crucial contribution kept the Sale bandwagon rolling.