Gopperth sinks Sharks
Gary Gold celebrated his first match in charge at Newcastle with an emphatic 37-7 win over Sale on Sunday.
Last Updated: 29/01/12 6:15pm
Gary Gold celebrated his first match in charge at Newcastle Falcons with an emphatic 37-7 win over Sale in their LV= Cup clash on Sunday.
The Falcons' new director of rugby took charge of preparations for the cup tie at Kingston Park after keeping a watching brief in the club's previous two Amlin Cup games.
Gold and defence coach Mike Ford will not have been entirely happy with the Falcons conceding their usual early soft try.
But they will have been more than pleased with Newcastle's first-up tackling and competitiveness at the breakdown.
And the former London Irish and South Africa assistant coach will draw much encouragement from the Falcons' four tries, three of them on the back of a powerful second-half display from the home forwards.
Newcastle led 13-7 at half-time after Jimmy Gopperth kicked penalties either side of Nick Macleod's 12th-minute try for Sale.
Rewarded
Macleod crossed when the ball was hacked through and no one was at home to stop the centre from touching down before converting his own try.
Gopperth's penalty closed the gap to a single point and minutes later the full-back spurned another kick at goal to find the corner.
The decision was rewarded when Mark Wilson was driven over from the lineout on 32 minutes and Gopperth converted for the half-time lead.
Johnny Leota's stint in the sin-bin for a spear tackle on Ryan Shortland proved marginally productive for Newcastle, with Gopperth missing a long-range penalty before slotting another to make it 16-7.
Ironically, Newcastle scored their second try just after Leota's return after Gopperth again spurned a kick at goal to find the corner.
Dominant
Sustained pressure ended with Rob Vickers being driven over in the 62nd minute and Gopperth's conversion made it 23-7.
There was no stopping the Falcons pack now, who were totally dominant in the loose, and it was no surprise when Tim Swinson crashed over from another forward drive, with Gopperth adding the extras.
Then, with six minutes to go, the full-back got on the end of a Wilson run to burst over for the final try, which he also converted.
The win keeps the Falcons' mathematical chances of making it through to the knock-out stages of the competition alive.
It is the Scarlets however, who remain favourites to progress from the group, while Sale are effectively out of the running with no points from their three games.
