Aviva Premiership: Gloucester come from behind to beat Newcastle 22-16
Rob Cook and Jonny May scored tries as Gloucester came from behind to beat Newcastle 22-16 at Kingston Park.
Last Updated: 29/09/13 5:57pm
Fly-half Freddie Burns also kicked four penalties, as the visitors came from 10-0 down to seal their second win of the campaign and their first in the North East since 2007.
The Falcons sped to an early lead thanks to Tom Catterick's first-minute try and masterful kicking by Rory Clegg, but the Cherry and Whites hit back in the second half as Burns found his range to claim victory.
The hosts fired straight from the whistle and crossed for the opening try of the game within 60 seconds.
Falcons captain Will Welch broke the Gloucester line and passed the ball to fellow back-rower Ally Hogg, who released wing Catterick for a race to the whitewash.
Newcastle fly-half Clegg then added the extras with a conversion that curled inside the posts despite the swirling conditions as the home side took a 7-0 lead.
Newcastle's perfect start almost continued when centre Adam Powell again broke the Cherry and White's line, but his pass to Noah Cato was poor.
Both sides were favouring an open, running game, but Newcastle also had the edge up front, with Gloucester penalised at two consecutive scrums.
The second came from a Billy Twelvetrees fumble as the visitors attempted to run the ball from their own 22, which resulted in Clegg extending Newcastle's lead from the penalty tee.
First points
However, Gloucester soon got their first points on the board from the boot of Burns with a simple penalty after Newcastle killed the ball.
Newcastle were quickly on the front foot again, though, as they pressurised Gloucester's line from a driving maul. Despite surviving the initial wave, the Cherry and Whites quickly saw the lead returned to 10 points as Clegg did not miss when another Falcons maul was pulled down.
Burns failed to cut the gap by missing a penalty, but the visitors moved back to within five points thanks to Cook's try. The full-back squeezed in at the corner and was awarded the try by the TMO but Burns missed the resulting conversion as Newcastle took a 13-8 lead into half-time.
Gloucester started the second-half strongly and won a penalty after centre Henry Trinder was tackled high, which Burns duly slotted.
The visitors were starting to take a grip on the game and they stretched Newcastle up front before dealing a hammer blow with a flowing backs move which put May across the line for their second try of the game. Burns missed the conversion but May's score meant Gloucester were ahead for the first time in the match.
Not to be outdone, Newcastle's black tide swept deep into Gloucester territory and won a penalty, which substitute stand-off Phil Godman gratefully scored to level the match at 16-16 with 20 minutes to play.
Newcastle were their own worst enemy five minutes later when they gifted Burns a penalty close to goal as Gloucester again edged ahead.
Catterick then attempted a long-range penalty effort from just inside the halfway line but it drifted wide as Newcastle's hopes faded, with Burns sealing Gloucester's win with another penalty strike.