Read in the paper this morning that Newport won 24-20 away to Cross Keys in the other game in our group this weekend. Don't know did they pick up the bonus point. Newport v Newcastle double header will decide the group. Looks only one winner there though. Considering we ran Newport close Cross Keys should be a game we can target both home and away.

Cheers for the report Rossie, if anything it highlights and reinforces how important our participation this season in B&I is for the development of our fringe players. AIL 1 is still a good drop down from B&I Cup, fair enough it's unusual to see a team like Newcastle putting out a full strength side but the Championship is on a break for this so and they have obviously decided they want to keep their squad sharp...

Drubbings like this are hard to take but the guys now know the level there expected to reach and that will hold them in good stead. It will show EE who's ready to take the next step up and who needs more time.

was at the game last night but my phone didnt have any 3g/internet connection there for some reason.

It really was men against boys stuff unfortunately especially up front. Ive never seen so many players from one side(connacht) require treatment after tackles that they had made. The stuffin ust seemed to be being knocked out of them in contact with the opposition.
That said they tried really hard all through but it was to no avail as they were running into a brick wall for long periods.

The first two tries came from lineouts which they rolled in extremely comfortably. This allied to the fact that the lineouts came off the back of penalties awarded at scrumtime set the tone for the rest of the game. the connacht pack just couldnt compete with them at the set piece.
to be fair newcastle won this by 30 pts playing in 2nd gear and look like a side who will be comfortable in the premiership next season.

from connachts point of view The backrow battled hard and did quite well generally. Heffernan looks to be a decent prospect and tj did ok. Grace had a very shaky start but recovered and had a decent game all things considered. Kearney and qualter battled hard but were massively overpowered. Rodney, bealham and o byrne did ok in the loose but were beaten up at scrum time. Cooney came on for rodney when imo he should have come in for bealham. Firstly hes a lh and not th and secondly bealham requires 8kgs of beefing up to survive at this level and higher( ditto byrne and kearney). Cooney looks Big but unfortunately scrums went uncontested shortly after his arrival so i didnt get to see him operate.
at halfback walsh looks like a brave sh but hes takes a lot of time to get the pass off oleary like and will have to improve in this area. Carty looks to be a very talented 10 but appears to lack the stamina to play 80 min or even 40 consec. He visibly tired in final 10 of both halves. in first half his kicking out of hand deteriorated and in 2nd his passing went everywhere bar its target. it was like wathing two different players and he will have to sort his mental and physicl fitness out if hes going to make it.his tackling is suspect too.
the 3/4s line all physically strugled. Leydon, mcauley and leader looked extremely light in comparison to their counterparts. Mcauley looked out of his depth and i was surprised to see Nigel Carolan having to shout at him from his position in the stand to take the correct defensive position on a couple of occasions. Leader will make a good 12 with a bit more beef and leydon is more suited to 15. Murphy survived the physical test best but hes that few years older and it stood to him imo. Jarvis looked poor at fb and a bit dissinterested if im honest.

The stars of the show from a connacht perspective were Heffernan at 8 and Darragh leader who replaced jarvis at FB. Heffernan has the making of a great 6. Hes strong agressive, fearless and likes to carry the ball. Hes always in the right area and has a super attitude. Darragh Leader is special. Hes fast, energetic, intelligent and you can see that he just loves to run with the ball and bring others into the game. it was my 2nd time to see him and he had the same attitude and energy on both occasions.
There was a decent crowd at the game of about 400. There was a reasonable atmosphere considering how the game went and there were a dozen or so falcons supporters over which was surprising. The Heineken Cup was available at halftime for photo ops in association with the charity "aware" who were collecting on the night.
Eric, Dan, James Loxton and George were sitting near me in the ground(Not all together) which surprised me giving whats going on later today.
I look forward to the next fixture here in Dubarry Park. It should be better but we must remember that Cross Keys were finalists in this comp last season.

newcastlefalcons.co.uk wrote: CONNACHT 3 FALCONS 34
19th October 2012

Newcastle Falcons’ blistering start to their campaign under the stewardship of Dean Richards continued with victory at Connacht in the British and Irish Cup tonight.

Running in six tries, the Falcons’ travelling contingent had every reason to celebrate, as the Kingston Park outfit made it eight wins out of eight in all competitions this season.

Richards’ men gained the initiative as early as the third minute when Oliver Tomaszczyk finished off a rolling maul to put his side 5-0 ahead. Awarded a penalty midway inside the hosts’ half, Jimmy Gopperth elected to kick to the corner.

From the resulting lineout, Scott MacLeod received clean ball from hooker Rob Vickers, before the Falcons pack steamrollered their way to the line. Gopperth pulled the conversion wide.

Connacht soon reduced the deficit courtesy of a Tadhg Leader penalty following an infringement at the ruck. But the northeasterners, who looked to play an expansive style of rugby from the start, registered their second try of the game on 14 minutes thanks to an Ally Hogg drive over score.

A carbon-copy of the first try, the Falcons pack were certainly in the mood in front of a boisterous travelling contingent. Gopperth failed to convert and the Falcons led 10-3.

The Kiwi fly-half was not to be denied his name on the score sheet when he stretched over to touchdown under the posts just before the half hour mark. Impressive lineout play yet again enabled Rory Lawson to feed Tane Tu’ipulotu, who in turn passed to Gopperth for the try. Gopperth made no mistake with the extras to make it 17-3.

Back came the Eagles with a series of industrious attacks as the Galway club looked to unlock the Falcons’ rearguard. The centre combination of Tadhg Leader and Brian Murphy were asking questions of the North East defensive line, but Richards’ troops stood firm.

With the last play of the half Connacht had the chance to close the gap by virtue of a Leader penalty, but the No. 12 sliced his kick wide of the upright.

Newcastle began the second period in positive fashion and were unlucky not to touchdown on 44 minutes when Lawson threw a dummy and darted through a gap before offloading to Hogg who was hauled down just short of the line.

At the breakdown the Falcons were awarded a penalty and the ball was moved swiftly to the right where full-back Alex Tait eased in at the corner to secure the bonus-point try. Gopperth arrowed the conversion across the face of goal and the Kingston Park outfit were in command at 22-3.

From one rapid back to another, winger Andrew Higgins was the next Falcons player to add his name to the score-sheet. Marching immediately back up-field from the restart, the pack set the perfect platform for the backline to make use of a three-man overlap on the near side. Gopperth was unable to convert and the Falcons held a 27-3 advantage.

On 59 minutes, forwards coach John Wells will have been beaming from ear to ear when the pack rubberstamped their dominance at the scrum to earn a penalty try. Gopperth slotted home from bang in front of the posts to extend his side’s lead to 34-3.

With 15 minutes to go Scott Wilson got his second taste of senior rugby following his start against Cross Keys last week. The academy product came off the bench to replace Tomaszczyk who had given his all.

Despite a flurry of Connacht attacks in the final minutes of the game, the Falcons closed the game out to claim a 34-3 away triumph.

Newcastle Falcons: 15 Alex Tait, 14 Andy Higgins, 13 Alex Crockett, 12 Tane Tu’ipulotu, 11 Tom Catterick, 10 Jimmy Gopperth, 9 Rory Lawson, 1 Jonny Golding, 2 Rob Vickers, 3 Oliver Tomaszczyk, 4 Carlo del Fava, 5 Scott MacLeod, 6 Ally Hogg, 7 Will Welch (c), 8 Richard Mayhew

Replacements: 16 Michael Mayhew, 17 Scott Wilson, 18 Sean Tomes, 19 Mark Wilson, 20 Warren Fury, 21 Joel Hodgson, 22 Suka Hufanga

Connacht: 15 Matthew Jarvis, 14 Shane Layden, 13 Brian Murphy, 12 Tadhg Leader, 11 Steve Macauley, 10 Jack Carty, 9 Marcus Walsh, 1 Finlay Bealham, 2 Kevin O’Byrne, 3 Rodney Ah You, 4 Mick Kearney, 5 Danny Qualter, 6 TJ Anderson (captain), 7 Eoghan Grace, 8 Eoin McKeon

Replacements: 16 Peter Reilly, 17 JP Cooney, 18 Jonathan Gardiner, 19 Dave Heffernan, 20 Mark Dolan, 21 Conor Finn, 22 Darragh Leader

3-34 at ft. Seems we were bullied up front but I think we all expected that.

It was always going to be tough but this was probably the toughest game we could get (bar playing them away!). Newcastle have 8 from 8 with 7 bps already this season in all competitions and should wins this competition at a canter.

Table at present:
Newcastle 2 10
Newport 1 4
Connacht 2 1
Cross Keys 1 0

Cross Keys v Newport tomorrow. Cross Keys Double header in December should give us a shot at a win you'd hope.

3-27 53 mins gone. 5 tries for Newcastle now. Lucky they are missing most of the conversions!!

Have started looking at menacethedenis updates. Thanks to him for the updates.

3 - 17 at ht. 3 tries for Newcastle Falcons to date.

Newcastle with a try after just 3 mins. This could get very ugly.

Seems like there will be updates on Eagles v Newcastle Falcons game at the below twitter link for anyone looking:

twitter.com/FalconsRugby

No supporters bus going from Galway then I presume?
Citylink/BE have awkward return times so not really doable.

menacethedenis wrote: www.irishrugby.ie/news/27494.php

Rodney's in the squad so I assume Wilko is back in for the 'quins game

No Harris Wright, Reynecke must be uncertain... about that who is the substitute hooker for O'byrne? Reilly? weird...

CONNACHT EAGLES (v Newcastle Falcons): Matthew Jarvis; Shane Layden, Brian Murphy, Tadhg Leader, Steve Macauley; Jack Carty, Marcus Walsh; Finlay Bealham, Kevin O'Byrne, Rodney Ah You, Michael Kearney, Daniel Qualter, Thomas Anderson (capt), Eoghan Grace, Eoin McKeon.

Replacements: Peter Reilly, JP Cooney, Jonathan Gardiner, David Heffernan, Mark Dolan, Conor Finn, Darragh Leader.

No McCrea again. I wonder if he's with the 1st team? Is Healy injured or with the 1st team also? Will be interested to see how Brian Murphy does after doing so well in the AIL and after Healy putting in such a great performance last week. My only quibble is Ah You at 3 I understand the thinking behind it but I'd really just prefer him at 1 and him been left there to learn that position in and out.

I'll be at this, will tweet updates if I can. My Twitter is @menacethedenis

That'd be savage. Would be great to get them out. Cheers!

Good to see Brian Murphy back from injury. I see we have no replacement hooker so O'Byrne will have to go the full 80. Its a reasonable Connacht side given injuries and so forth but they are up against the best side in this competition.

Newcastle walloped last seasons finalists Cross Keys last Saturday. Looking at the Newcastle side they aren't going to be going through the motions, they want this piece of silverware. This could be a chastening experience.

Newcastle Team:
15 Alex Tait,
14 Andy Higgins,
13 Alex Crockett,
12 Tane Tu’ipulotu,
11 Tom Catterick,
10 Jimmy Gopperth,
9 Rory Lawson,
1 Jonny Golding,
2 Rob Vickers,
3 Oliver Tomaszczyk,
4 Carlo del Fava,
5 Scott MacLeod,
6 Richard Mayhew,
7 Will Welch (c),
8 Ally Hogg

Replacements: 16 Michael Mayhew, 17 Scott Wilson, 18 Sean Tomes, 19 Mark Wilson, 20 Warren Fury, 21 Joel Hodgson, 22 Suka Hufanga