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Newcastle finish miserable season winless as Gloucester bounce back
By PA
Newcastle finished the Gallagher Premiership season without a single win as Gloucester were convincing 54-14 winners in Saturday’s finale at Kingsholm.
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As a result, Falcons followed in the footsteps of Rotherham in 2003/04 and London Welsh 2014/15, who also failed to record victories in a league season and this latest reverse left Falcons with a mere five points from their 18 league fixtures.
After last week’s 90-0 humiliation at the hands of Northampton, Gloucester were mightily relieved to finish on the winning side but it still was not enough for them to avoid statistically their worst-ever Premiership season.
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Zach Mercer, Chris Harris, Charlie Atkinson, Ollie Thorley, Seb Blake, Jonny May, Alex Hearle, and Josh Hathaway scored their tries with Caolan Englefield converting five. Stephen Varney and Santiago Socino each added a conversion.
Jamie Blamire and Matias Moroni scored Newcastle’s tries, both of which Brett Connon converted.
Newcastle began brightly but it was their opponents who opened the scoring. Their first attack saw acres of space created for Charlie Atkinson to race into the visitors’ 22 from where Mercer was on hand to force his way over.
Englefield converted before Gloucester scored an excellent second try. Deep inside his own half, Harris chipped ahead for Hathaway to collect before returning the ball to Harris, who ran 35 metres to the line.
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Minutes later, Newcastle’s early woes continued when the hosts took advantage of a couple of favourable bounces for Atkinson to win the race to touchdown, with a third conversion from Englefield giving Gloucester a 21-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Newcastle needed a swift response and got one when Blamire finished off a driving line-out but Gloucester soon picked up their bonus-point try when a break from Englefield set up Thorley.
However, Falcons kept in contention at half-time with a try from Moroni but they still trailed 26-14 at the interval.
A minute after the restart, Gloucester extended that advantage when Blake crashed over from a driving line-out before May celebrated his final home appearance for the club with his side’s sixth to extinguish any Newcastle’s hopes of a shock result.
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Ahead of next week’s European Challenge Cup final against the Sharks, Gloucester replaced some of their leading lights, with skipper Lewis Ludlow and impressive scrum-half Englefield both departing as Argentina hooker Socino came on for his final appearance at Kingsholm.
Socino brought the crowd to their feet with a 30-metre burst before Falcons lock Tim Cardall was sin-binned with eight minutes remaining.
The home side immediately capitalised with a try from Hearle and then another from Hathaway to emphasize their superiority over a spirited but limited Newcastle.
An unbelievable #GallagherPrem regular season comes to an end ?@SaintsRugby sit in pole position, with @BathRugby, @SaleSharksRugby and @Saracens completing the Top 4 ?
Who are you backing in The Play-Offs? ? pic.twitter.com/fk42iDGsy7
— Premiership Rugby (@premrugby) May 18, 2024
