Exeter beat Newcastle to finish in eighth place

Newcastle Exeter Chiefs finished in eighth place in the Aviva Premiership after they beat Newcastle Falcons 13-23 at Kingston Park.

The result was Newcastle Falcons 16th straight Premiership loss of the season.

Two Joel Hodgson penalties gave Newcastle a 6-0 advantage after eight minutes,
but the Chiefs controlled the rest of the half and went into the interval with
a 15-6 lead through Luke Cowan-Dickie and Ben White tries.

Henry Slade added a second penalty after the break to go with the one he kicked
in the first half and Fetu’u Vainikolo went over late on to secure the win.

The Falcons had the final word through Mark Wilson, but they ended the campaign
with yet another disappointing defeat.

Having gone into the game following a disastrous run of form in the league,
stretching back to October, the hosts came out determined to end their barren
spell.

Until the last few weeks, Dean Richards’ men haven’t been renowned for their
attacking prowess, but they were spritely in the opening exchanges.

Alex Tait and Mark Wilson both made incursions into opposition territory and
Hodgson rewarded their endeavour by kicking two penalties. Despite being under
pressure in the first 10 minutes, Exeter hit back when a dominant driving maul
ended in Cowan-Dickie crossing the whitewash.

It was the visitors who were now in control and a Dave Lewis break almost took
them into the lead before Slade’s penalty eventually moved the Chiefs ahead.

White then touched down to provide the West Country outfit with a nine-point
buffer at the break.

The second period descended into your typical end of season game as mistakes
began to dominate proceedings.

Both sides continually knocked on when in promising situations and it was Slade’s
three-pointer which appeared to be the only score of the final 40.

That was until Haydn Thomas sprinted clear and off-loaded to Vainikolo who
went over.

It meant that Exeter had the chance of a bonus-point but, in attempting to
run the ball from deep, they turned it over and Wilson touched down for Newcastle.

Final Score Newcastle (6) 13 Exeter (15) 23

Scorers

Newcastle
Tries – Wilson
Pen -Hodgson 2
Con – Godman
Drop –

Exeter Chiefs
Tries – Cowan-Dickie, White, Vainikolo
Pen – Slade 2
Con – Slade
Drop –

Match Officials
Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys (1st Premiership game).
Assistant Referees: Steve Lee and John Meredith.
TMO: Trevor Fisher.

Teams

Newcastle Falcons

15 Alex Tait, 14 Noah Cato, 13 Gonzalo Tiesi, 12 James Fitzpatrick, 11 Sinoti Sinoti, 10 Joel Hodgson, 9 Mike Blair, 1 Gary Strain, 2 Scott Lawson, 3 Oliver Tomaszczyk, 4 Ian Nagle, 5 Dom Barrow, 6 Richard Mayhew, 7 Will Welch (c), 8 Mark Wilson

Replacements: 16 George McGuigan, 17 Kieran Brookes, 18 Scott Wilson, 19 Scott MacLeod, 20 Andy Saull, 21 Warren Fury, 22 Phil Godman, 23 Lee Smith

Exeter Chiefs

15 Phil Dollman, 14 Fetu’u Vainikolo, 13 Ian Whitten, 12 Sam Hill, 11 Matt Jess, 10 Henry Slade, 9 Dave Lewis,1 Ben Moon, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3 Hoani Tui, 4 Dean Mumm (capt), 5 Damian Welch, 6 Ben White, 7 James Scaysbrook, 8 Kai Horstmann

16 Jack Yeandle, 17 Carl Rimmer, 18 Alex Brown, 19 James Phillips, 20 Tom Johnson, 21 Haydn Thomas, 22 Gareth Steenson, 23 Tom James