El Salvador 14 Newcastle Falcons 43

NEWCASTLE Falcons will visit Saracens in the European Challenge Cup quarterfinals after securing their lasteight spot with a comprehensive victory over Spanish side Cetransa El Salvador yesterday.

Falcons will travel to Vicarage Road on the weekend of April 11-12 after finishing the pool stage as one of the three best runners-up.

Steve Bates’ men will be the underdogs against a Saracens side currently sixth in the Guinness Premiership. But after scraping through the group stage behind Pool Four winners Brive, the Falcons are just three wins away from a place in next season’s Heineken Cup.

Their quarter-final spot was all but secured when Brive beat Parma on Thursday night, and victory was never in doubt during yesterday’s encounter in Valladolid.

Falcons ran in five tries during the opening 40 minutes, and while they took their foot off the pedal after the break, Cetransa never threatened to stage an unlikely comeback.

Skipper Phil Dowson opened the scoring within ten minutes, and with Rob Vickers and Tim Swinson also crossing the game was effectively over by the 20-minute mark.

A bonus point was assured when slick interplay between Jamie Noon and Alex Tait enabled Jon Golding to score in the left corner, and Newcastle boasted a 29-0 lead at the interval after rugby league convert Danny Williams grabbed his fifth try in as many matches on the stroke of half-time.

El Salvador fly-half Justin Wilson scored at the start of the second half, but Falcons quickly extended their lead again when scrum-half Micky Young ghosted in at the righthand corner.

Spanish prop Szabo Gaston ensured it was not one-way traffic with a close-range score, but Newcastle had the final say when replacement hooker Matt Thompson grabbed the visitors’ seventh try with 14 minutes left.

“I was very satisfied with the first half, because we did what we said we were going to do with some of our tactical play and the way in which we created the five tries,” said director of rugby Bates.

“In the second half we brought on a lot of replacements, which perhaps disrupted the flow a bit. But in fairness to El Salvador they put up a really gutsy performance and made it difficult for us. They have improved a lot from last year and even since they played us at home in October.

“The boys have been on the go since the middle of June, so we’ll take four days’ rest this week before having a fortnight of very focused and specific preparation for the Bristol game on February 13.”