Newcastle Falcons and Wasps play out thrilling 23-23 draw in Aviva Premiership
Last Updated: 21/02/15 6:58am
Wasps came from behind to grab a thrilling 23-23 draw with Newcastle Falcons at Kingston Park in the Aviva Premiership.
Juan Pablo Socino looked to have secured victory for the Falcons when he intercepted Andy Goode’s pass and raced 60 metres to score his side’s third try with 16 minutes remaining.
But a cracking third try from Wasps four minutes later through replacement Guy Thompson, converted by Andy Goode, levelled the scores.
Newcastle pressed for a late winner but they lost the ball when attempting to line up a drop-goal attempt, and the concession of a scrum penalty meant they had to settle for a draw
Playing in front of a 7,547 crowd, Newcastle flew out of the blocks with Catterick and Sinoti Sinoti looking threatening.
Just five minutes had elapsed when Sinoti carved through the Wasps defence, and Adam Powell fired a long cut-out pass for Alex Tait to score in the corner.
Catterick shaved the wrong side of the post with the conversion, but was spot-on with a 10th-minute penalty to make it 8-0 when James Downey was trapped on the wrong side of the ruck.
A scorching run from Christian Wade had Newcastle back-pedalling, and that contributed to their first points on 21 minutes as Goode kicked a penalty.
A great tackle from Elliot Daly denied Tait a second try, before Nathan Hughes forced a turnover under the posts after Kieran Brookes bounced off two tacklers.
Wasps roared back to score twice in two minutes, with Daly creating a try for full-back Rob Miller and then scoring himself after some free-flowing straight from the restart.
Goode missed both conversions from out wide, and a Catterick penalty left Newcastle trailing by 13-11 at the interval.
The Falcons retook the lead on 50 minutes when fast hands from Gonzalo Tiesi and Sinoti gave Josh Furno a 30-metre run-in.
Catterick failed to convert and Wasps were back level within five minutes from a Goode penalty after Newcastle hauled down a line-out drive.
With 16 minutes left, Socino intercepted Goode's pass and slipped through two tackles to score, Catterick landing his third conversion attempt of the game.
But the crowd's celebrations were cut short when Daly superbly offloaded for Thompson to score and Goode added the extras to set up an enthralling finish.