Harlequins (6) 12
Pens: Malone 4

Matt Burke scored a second-half try and kicked two conversions to bring Newcastle a victory over Harlequins.

Quins led 6-0 with two penalties from Chris Malone before Geoff Parling and Tom May scored tries for a 14-6 lead.

Malone had two more penalties in the second half before Burke scored in the corner from a Falcons breakout.

Burke was a rock for Newcastle in the last 10 minutes, kicking to relieve the almost constant Quins pressure to secure the win.

"We showed pretty low imagination in getting the ball over the line.

"Newcastle had three or four chances and took three of them well. We had loads of chances and didn't take any.

"It's very disappointing to create so many opportunities and not put any of them away.

"We had a lot of the play and just didn't convert it into points and that's something we need to work on for next week."

"We're always a threat when we get the ball but we couldn't get our hands on it for much of the game.

"We were very poor defensively at the start although we got better as the game went on and did very well, especially at the end of the match.

"Matt Burke was outstanding and fully deserved to be named man of the match, but all the players showed real character and I'm very pleased to have won with so many of our squad missing."

Newcastle: Burke; May, Dillon, Shaw, Rudd; Jones, Dickson; McDonnell, Long, Ward, Oakes, Sorenson, Parling, Dowson (capt), Winter.
Replacements: Thompson, Golding, D Wilson, Perry, B Wilson, Grindal, Dehaty.

Harlequins: Brown; Williams, Luscombe, Turner-Hall, Keogh; Malone, Fulton; Jones, Croall, Ross, Kohn, Evans, Robshaw, Volley (capt), Guest.
Replacements: Laurent, Nebbett, Spanghero, Skinner, Davies, Masson, Stegmann.