Newcastle go into the new year at the bottom of the table after finishing an oscillating game in the seasonally generous mood that they started it. If Bristol’s opening try after 75 seconds was down to a defensive misread in midfield, their winner three minutes from time owed much to a missed tackle by the centre Josh Matavesi on Ed Holmes.
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It was hard on the Fiji international who had spared nothing all afternoon but while Toby Flood was receiving attention on the far touchline as Newcastle looked to hold on to the draw that would have dumped Worcester at the foot of the table, Matavesi’s error allowed the second row Holmes to rampage into the Falcons’ 22 for the wing Tom Pincus, an Australian lawyer making his first Premiership start at the age of 26, to score in the corner.
It gave Bristol a bonus point as well as victory. Both had seemed unlikely at the end of the first half when they trailed 20-10 having naively chased an ideal as if seduced by their early try scored by the scrum-half Harry Randall after Luke Morahan left the centre Chris Harris wrong-footed after coming into the midfield from the wing.
Bristol after that looked to run from everywhere, forcing passes to their cost. Newcastle, marshalled by the astute Flood, played for position and took control of the game with two tries that followed lineouts and forwards rumbles. The first was scored by the wing Vereniki Goneva from close range. The Fijian became fed up waiting in vain for a pass on the wing and joined his pack in a series of pick-and-gos.
Newcastle’s second try, which followed an exchange of penalties between Flood and Ian Madigan, was even more direct, George McGuigan taking the ball at pace and storming the gainline for Callum Chick to finish off. It would have been worse for Bristol but for Morahan’s smother tackle on Simon Hammersley which prevented the full-back from popping a try-scoring pass to Michael Young and the Bears needed the break after what their head coach Pat Lam called an “horrific” first 40 minutes.
The second half was completely different. The Bears were more pragmatic and within 13 minutes of the restart had regained the lead. They kept the ball closer to the forwards and the opposition line and after a series of drives that replicated Newcastle’s approach, Madigan’s subtly delayed pass gave Charles Piutau the room to score in the right-hand corner before Dan Thomas’s surge and Harry Thacker’s swift pass created Morahan’s fifth try of the league campaign.
Madigan’s second penalty on the hour extended Bristol’s lead to five points but Newcastle were not spent. Even during the game’s more frenetic moments, Flood’s head remained firmly attached to his shoulders and his deft chip to the line off the outside of his right foot as he ran left, which ensured the ball bounced away from the touchline, was seized by the wing Adam Radwan.
Flood’s conversion hit the post but the scores were level for only five minutes. Callum Sheedy’s penalty restored Bristol’s lead but Newcastle forced their way back upfield. They had by now replaced their front row, sacrificing the props who were best able to make ground from a standing start, and a wave of attacks finished in a Flood penalty rather than a try.
It looked enough to secure them a draw in a campaign when most of their points have been garnered away from Kingston Park, but a missed tackle left them grateful to kick the ball away at the end and depart with a point. They need to improve their home form, starting with Harlequins on Saturday, but a mounting injury list now includes the flanker John Hardie, who lasted 28 minutes before being replaced after he had been fended off by the prop John Afoa.
Bristol, who are at Exeter on Saturday, are looking up. “A place in the top four is there,” said Lam, whose side are five points off the play-offs. “There will be no beer on New Year’s Eve for the players who will be in at 7am the next day. I am happy we are not bottom at the halfway stage, but I am not satisfied. The first half was horrific and we have a way to go.”