 Flood had a perfect kicking record against Sale |
Newcastle (21) 40
Tries: Elliott, May, Tait, Rudd
Pens: Flood 4
Cons: Flood 4 Sale (18) 25
Tries: Mayor 2, Bruno, Bell
Pens: Thomas
Cons: Wigglesworth
England international Toby Flood kicked four penalties and converted all four of Newcastle's tries to lead his side to victory over Sale. Anthony Elliott gave the Falcons the perfect start with a try within two minutes to put Sale under pressure. Chris Mayor's effort gave Sale a brief lead but Tom May and Mathew Tait tries put Newcastle in control. Flood's kicking kept Newcastle ahead and John Rudd's try with 11 seconds to go secured a bonus point.
Newcastle boss John Fletcher
"For the neutrals, it was a great game and they missed a lot of kicks and, had they kicked them, possibly would have been out of sight. "But we scored great tries especially the one by Tom May. It was a move we worked on in training this week. "Toby Flood will get a lot better. He's a classic late developer and does things in training that are fantastic." Sale boss Philippe Saint-Andre:
"I don't blame the kickers - these things happen and I don't blame my players either. They gave 100%. "We gave Newcastle a Christmas present by missing 21 points in kicks and I felt we had 60-70% of the game. "I'm just glad 2006 is finished and I hope 2007 and will be a better year, at least for injuries."
Newcastle: Elliott; May, Tait, Mayerhofler, Rudd; Flood, Grindal; McDonnell (capt), Thompson, Ward, Sorenson, Oakes, Parling, Woods, Winter.
Replacements: Golding, Vickers, Buist, Wilson, Burke, Dickson, Crichton. Sale: Robinson, Foden, Taylor, Bell, Mayor, Thomas, Wigglesworth, Faure, Bruno, Turner, Schofield, Day, Jones, Lund, J. Fernandez Lobbe.
Replacements: Titterrell, Evans, Cox, Chabal, Martens, Larrechea, Vilk. Referee: Martin Fox (RFU)
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