 Falcons fly-half Crichton kicked 12 points against the Wasps |
Newcastle: (16) 37
Tries: Burke, Noon, Thompson, Mayerhofler, McDonnell
Cons: Crichton (3)
Pens: Crichton (2)
Wasps: (6) 11
Tries: McMillan
Pens: Walder (2)
Newcastle stunned high-flying Wasps with a five-try Premiership victory at Kingston Park on Friday.
The Falcons, third from bottom, scored with a Matt Burke try after one minute and maintained the lead throughout.
Two Loki Crichton penalties and a Jamie Noon try gave Newcastle a 16-6 lead at the break against third-placed Wasps.
Wasps' Mark McMillan cancelled out Mark Thompson's try after the break but Mark Mayerhofler and Joe McDonnell scored in the last two minutes to add some gloss.
 | I must apologise to our fans who came up because it was by far our worst performance Wasps coach Ian McGeechan |
Newcastle's bonus-point victory was a sixth straight home win in all competitions, easing relegation fears.
The Falcons were without two of their England stars, while the play-off chasing visitors had lost eight players to international duty.
With only his side's third touch of the ball, former Australia international Burke intercepted a loose pass out wide before sprinting 70 metres to score in the corner for the Falcons.
Wasps came close to levelling but settled for a penalty from former Falcons favourite Dave Walder before their own indiscipline handed Crichton two quick three-pointers.
Noon pounced after good work from Lee Dickson on 17 minutes before Walder narrowed the gap to 10 points just short of half-time.
| I'll be honest - I thought at times we weren't so great Falcons boss John Fletcher |
The Falcons scored again one minute after the re-start when Burke's break set up Thompson's try.
Crichton converted and then missed a penalty, while Wasps skipper Lawrence Dallaglio's miserable night was brought to an end when he was substituted midway through the half.
Wasps kept probing and were rewarded when McMillan scored a carbon copy of Noon's earlier try on 73 minutes for 23-11.
Mark Van Gisbergen, on for Walder, missed the conversion and with barely a minute remaining Newcastle secured the four-try bonus point when Mayerhofler ran in unchallenged.
And Crichton created a fifth when he fed prop McDonnell for his first try for the club.
Newcastle coach John Fletcher:
"I'll be honest - I thought at times we weren't so great. I thought our work-rate, our commitment and togetherness were good but we were at times a little bit shapeless as well. "I think we were pretty fortunate with all our tries. But you've got to finish them off. But our forwards to a man were very impressive. I thought Ben Woods was particularly outstanding, as he's been all season.
"We created a lot of turnovers, some unforced errors by them. But also some errors through us just going at them.
"We're out of nothing. Worcester and Northampton are going to win some games - they've both got to play us. We want to try and get in the middle of the table and kick on from there."
Wasps coach Ian McGeechan:
"I must apologise to our fans who came up because it was by far our worst performance. "No excuses - we were just very poor. Very embarrassing. If you've 35 turnovers and four interception tries, you're not going to win games.
"At half-time, we knew there was a game there to win but if we kept making mistakes then we wouldn't win it.
"Newcastle didn't even have to play well. It's pretty hard to take."
Newcastle: Burke, May, Noon, Mayerhofler, Rudd, Crichton, Dickson, McDonnell, Thompson, Ward, Sorenson, Oakes, Parling, Woods, Winter.
Replacements: Golding, Batty, Buist, B. Wilson, Shaw, Grindal, Dillon.
Wasps: van Gisbergen, Hoadley, Waters, Staunton, Voyce, Walder, McMillan, Payne, Ward, Bracken, Shaw, Birkett, Leo, O'Connor, Dallaglio.
Replacements: Webber, Adams, Hart, Skivington, Amor, Brooks, Thrower.
Referee: Martin Fox (Leicester)
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