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Newcastle runs wild against Worcester thanks to rampant winger

By PA
Press Association

Adam Radwan scored two excellent tries as Newcastle Falcons kept their Heineken Cup qualification hopes alive with a deserved 24-14 win against Worcester Warriors at a glorious Kingston Park.

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The Falcons were in control from the get-go and dominated up front, forcing the Warriors into changing their entire front row before the half-hour mark.

Worcester scored two consolation tries in the second half but were outclassed by the Falcons, who bagged their ninth league win of the season.

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Radwan opened the scoring in the fifth minute with a spectacular try in the right corner after a training ground move from a lineout.

The winger was tackled on the touchline but managed to twist in mid-air to dot down. Brett Connon narrowly missed the conversion.

George McGuigan got the second try of the game for the Falcons from a driving lineout. The lineout was outside the 22 but their forwards incredibly shoved their way to the line, with the hooker dotting down.

Newcastle Falcons v Worcester Warriors - Gallagher Premiership - Kingston Park

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The domination of Newcastle continued as they collected their third try inside 20 minutes with Radwan scoring his second.

He collected the ball on the left wing and chipped it forward, leaving the Worcester defenders in his wake before collecting his own kick and touching down. Connon pushed the conversion past the uprights.

Worcester gradually grew into the game but a series of errors and a couple of kickable penalty misses from Duncan Weir stopped their momentum.

Newcastle Falcons v Worcester Warriors - Gallagher Premiership - Kingston Park

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The visitors came out for the second half with more attacking intent and had a spell camped in the Newcastle 22 but the ball was stolen by Trevor Davison and the danger passed.

The bonus point for the Falcons was secured just before the hour mark as they made their first visit to the Worcester 22. Sean Robinson collected a short pass and was able to canter in under the posts after Justin Clegg slipped. Connon added the extra two points.

Worcester were finally able to cross the whitewash on 70 minutes as Jamie Shillcock scored in the corner after a period of sustained pressure in the shadow of the posts before the ball was fired wide. Weir kicked the conversion from tight on the touchline.

Newcastle Falcons v Worcester Warriors - Gallagher Premiership - Kingston Park

The try breathed a new lease of life into the away side, as Francois Venter made a 40-metre dash down the left wing after a show-and-go took a couple of Newcastle defenders out of the game but eventually the ball was turned over.

Ted Hill grabbed a second try for the visitors with three minutes remaining as he was able to race in after Jamie Blamire had deliberately knocked on. Blamire was yellow-carded and Shillcock kicked the extras.

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SK 11 hours ago
The future of rugby: Sale and Leinster mount the case for the defence

I think the argument behind the future of Rugby and defence vs attack is a pertinent one but also misses a big point. Rugby is a game about momentum and big swings of momentum makes games entertaining. You get and lose momentum in a few ways. You kick a 50-22 after defending for multiple phases (huge momentum swing), you get two penalties in a row thanks to bad opposition discipline allowing you to peel of large meters, you maintain large amounts of territory and possession tiring opponents out, you get a penalty from the set piece, a yellow or red card etc. The laws in the past years that have made the biggest impact has addressed stale games where no team can seize the momentum. The 50-22 has been a raging success as it allows huge momentum swings. The interpretations around ruck time and changes there to favour the team in possession has allowed sides like Ireland to wear teams down with possession-based play and maintain and build momentum. The Dupont law (which killed momentum) and now the reversing of it has had a huge impact and now the access interpretation of the laws around kick chases which forces teams and players to allow access to the catcher is set to make a big impact and everyone loves it because it allows a contest on the catch and more importantly could lead to huge swings in momentum. The worst laws have failed to allow teams to seize momentum. When rugby allowed teams to pass the ball back into the 22 and clear it was clearly a bad law as it allowed nobody to build momentum. Clearly the laws that changed several penalty offences around ruck and set piece to free kicks was aimed at speeding up the game but was a poor law because it killed momentum as teams would infringe regularly without major consequences from penalties and also it did not reward the team that made a big play to win possession from a penalizable offence. In the modern game you can win matches in many ways. You can dominate possession and territory like Ireland or play off counterattack and turnovers like France. You can dominate with the set piece and seize momentum that way like SA, or stifle teams with momentum killing defence. You can run strike moves off first and second phase and score in the blink of an eye like NZ. Every team with every style has a chance. World cup finals are all about ensuring that your opponent cannot seize momentum. Every team is so afraid to make mistakes that give away momentum that they play conservatively until they no longer can afford to. The game favours no style and no type of play and thats why the big 4 teams are so closely matched. In the end it all comes down to execution and the team that executes better wins. For my mind that is a well balanced game and it is on the right track.

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