 Flood (centre) was in fine form at Kingston Park |
Newcastle 31 (6)
Tries: Flood, Rudd 2
Cons: Flood 2
Pens: Flood 4
Leicester 29 (16)
Tries: Goode, Lloyd
Cons: Goode 2
Pens: Goode 4, Vesty
England fly-half Toby Flood landed a late 45-metre penalty for a personal haul of 21 points to give Newcastle a dramatic comeback win over Leicester.
The visitors went 26-13 ahead after four penalties and a try from Andy Goode and a score from Leon Lloyd.
But two John Rudd tries and a Flood penalty put the Falcons 28-26 ahead.
Sam Vesty's 77th-minute penalty put the Tigers in front again but Flood, who also scored a second-half try, kicked his fourth penalty to seal the victory.
606 DEBATE: Give your thoughts on the match
The win gives Newcastle a massive boost in their battle against relegation and also prevented Leicester going top of the Premiership.
Newcastle started the better side but failed to pick up early points and Goode, who is reportedly keen to find out why he was dropped from the England set-up, began to take control.
He kicked over a 17th-minute penalty and added a simple try eight minutes later when Falcons number nine James Grindal lost the ball near his own line.
Goode and Flood then traded two penalties each before the Newcastle fly-half darted through at the start of the second half after Tigers lock Jamie Hamilton was yellow carded for killing the ball.
Woods was sin-binned for the same offence of 51 minutes to give Goode the chance to extend the lead and the Tigers took complete control when Lloyd crossed after Lewis Moody's knock on was not seen.
But Newcastle were not done and Rudd barrelled over with 20 minutes to go before touching down when Johnny Murphy and Vesty made a complete hash of a kick-through into the dead-ball area, while Flood added his third penalty.
Vesty looked to have given his side the win when the Newcastle scrum stood up on their own ball but Flood had the final say with a nerveless kick in front of the East Stand.
Newcastle rugby director John Fletcher:
"Toby has to be in with a shout when it comes to being in the England team or the squad for the Six Nations. "Given the other contenders he has to have a real chance and he will be able to handle it - he has two international caps and approaching something like 50 appearances in the Premiership.
"He's also pretty level-headed and knows what he's about.
"Any side can beat any other side in this league but it's very rare that you beat Leicester by anything more than one score.
"I've told the lads not to go overboard because the result could have gone either way."
Leicester head coach Pat Howard:
"It doesn't matter who is first or second in the table at present, it matters who is in the top four at the end of the season. "And we're in the right part of the table.
"Europe is now the focus and that's what we're thinking about, not whether we are first or second in the Premiership.
"The result was disappointing but Newcastle took their chances well and deserved their victory."
Newcastle: Elliot; May, M Tait, Mayerhofler, Rudd; Flood, Grindal; McDonald, Thompson, Ward, Sorenson, Oakes, Parling, Woods, Winter.
Replacements: Crighton for Elliot (62), Dickson for Grindal (62), B. Wilson for Parling (72).
Not Used: Golding, Long, Buist, Dillon.
Sin Bin: Woods (51).
Leicester: J Murphy, Lloyd, Smith, Vesty, Rabeni, Goode, Ellis, Moreno, Chuter, Castrogiovanni, Cullen, Hamilton, B Deacon, Moody, Corry.
Replacements: A Tuilagi for J Murphy (72), Gibson for Rabeni (46), Bemand for Goode (72), White for Moreno (46), Kay for Hamilton (56), Jennings for B Deacon (72).
Not Used: Buckland.
Sin Bin: Hamilton (45).
Att: 7,565
Ref: Sean Davey (RFU).
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