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The Falcons take flight again in Round 2
Newcastle Falcons can keep the pressure on Pool 3 leaders Brive with a home win over Cammi Rugby Calvisano on Sunday.
The Falcons are currently second in Pool 3 and a point behind Brive following their narrow defeat to the French club in October.
Pool 3 is arguably the most hotly contested pool in this year’s Amlin Challenge Cup with all four sides still in contention to make the knockout stages.
Dean Richards’ Newcastle will fancy their chances to get maximum points against Calvisano having won their last 11 Amlin Challenge Cup games against Italian opposition by an average scoreline of 43-8. They’ve also conceded just three points in their last two home games in the competition.
“It’s an awesome opportunity for us to bounce back and put in a solid performance against a strong Italian side,” said Newcastle back-row Richard Mayhew.
“Hopefully we can get a good win and get some confidence back – the most important thing is to get that culture of winning back into the club.”
In contrast, Calvisano have struggled to pose much of an attacking threat in this year’s competition. Despite an impressive 20-20 draw with Brive in the opening round of fixtures they have made just four clean line breaks in two games, the joint-worst record in the Amlin.
Newcastle Falcons kept themselves hot on the heels of former Heineken Cup champions Brive in the race to be crowned Pool 3 winners with a 37-15 try bonus point win over Cammi Rugby Calvisano at Kingston Park. - 08/12/2013 17:13
Newcastle Falcons kept themselves hot on the heels of former Heineken Cup champions Brive in the race to be crowned Pool 3 winners with a 37-15 try bonus point win over Cammi Rugby Calvisano at Kingston Park.
In a match in which yellow was very much the colour of the day French referee Cedric Marchat sent eight players to the sin bin – six of them from the Italian club.
They were even reduced to 12 men for a spell in the first half when flankers Maxime Mbanda and Nicola Belardo along with centre Tommy Castello made the sin bin a pretty crowded place.
Centre Andy Vilk, tighthead prop Lorenzo Romano and scrum half Simon Piconealso also spent 10 minutes each kicking their heels as Calvisano effectively played a man short for an hour while Newcastle replacement Will Welch also saw yellow in the second half.
Away from all that Dean Richard’s men bounced back from their Round 2 defeat at Brive with right wing Zach Kibirige getting their first try after 24 minutes and full back Noah Cato their second two minutes later.
That suggested a deluge of tries for the home side but instead they had to wait until the 50th minute to bank the bonus point, No 8 Chris York getting try No 4 after the Falcons had earlier been awarded a penalty try.
Left wing Michele Visentin and No 8 Braam Steyn did cross for the visitors but Cato collected his second and the Falcons’ fifth in the 66th minute – before the yellow peril returned with Newcastle’s Joel Hodgson the eighth to sit out the action for 10 minutes ahead of the quick-fire Round 4 return at the Peroni Stadium on Saturday.
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