Cardiff Blues edge Newcastle Falcons in LV Cup

Simon Humberstone kicked a late penalty to earn Cardiff Blues a one point Anglo Welsh LV= Cup victory at 21-22 over Newcastle Falcons at Kingston Park on Friday.

Cardiff Blues produced a stunning comeback to down Newcastle away from home
at Kingston Park.

The Falcons looked in complete control at half-time as they led 21-7, but they
didn’t score a point in the second half and eventually went down by the narrowest
of margins.

It didn’t look like the Blues would emerge victorious when Adam Powell went
over after just six minutes but Cardiff hit back quickly through winger Harry
Davies.

That was as good as it got for the Welsh side in the first half though, with
Newcastle running in two more tries through Ruki Tipuna and Rob Vickers.

Juan Pablo Socino converted all three tries to make it 21-7 at the break, but
the Blues fought back with a try from Rhys Williams right after half-time.

Simon Humberstone converted to cut the lead to seven before Rory Watts-Jones
made up for a first-half sin-binning by crossing for Cardiff’s third try.

Humberstone missed the conversion that would have drawn his team level, but
he slotted a penalty a few minutes later to give them the lead for the first
time.

There was still a quarter of the game remaining, but neither side was able
to add to their score, leaving the Blues with a valuable away victory in their
first game of the tournament.

Final Score Newcastle Falcons 21 (21) Cardiff Blues 22 (7)

Scorers

Newcastle Falcons
Tries – Powell, Tipuna, Vickers
Pen –
Con – Socino (3)
Drop –

Cardiff Blues
Tries – Davies, Jenkins, Watts-Jones
Pen – Humberstone
Con – Humberstone (2)
Drop –

Match Officials
Referee: John Meredith (England)
Assistant referees: Craig Maxwell-Keys (England), Gordon Goodliffe (England)
Timekeeper: David Hudson (England)
Assessor: Martin Fox (England)

Teams

Newcastle

15 Alex Tait, 14 Noah Cato, 13 Gonzalo Tiesi, 12 Adam Powell, 11 Alex Tuilagi, 10 Juan Pablo Socino, 9 Ruki Tipuna, 8 Mark Wilson, 7 Andy Saull (c), 6 Richard Mayhew, 5 Dom Barrow, 4 Calum Green, 3 Scott Wilson, 2 Rob Vickers, 1 Alex Rogers.

Replacements: 16 George McGuigan, 17 David Nelson, 18 Oliver Tomaszczyk, 19 Scott Macleod, 20 Chris York, 21 Mike Blair, 22 Rory Clegg, 23 Chris Harris.

Cardiff Blues

15 Dan Fish, 14 Tom Williams, 13 Lucas Amorosino, 12 Garyn Smith, 11 Harry Davies, 10 Simon Humberstone, 9 Tavis Knoyle, 8 Rory Watts-Jones, 7 Ellis Jenkins (c), 6 Jevon Groves, 5 Chris Dicomidis, 4 Lou Reed, 3 Scott Andrews, 2 Rhys Williams, 1 Tom Davies.

Replacements: 16 Ethan Lewis, 17 Callum Lewis, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Miles Normandale, 20 Ben Roach, 21 Tomos Williams, 22 Will Thomas, 23 Jack Phillips.