Wasps' sting too much for Falcons
Noah Cato and Will Welch scored Newcastle Falcons' first Premiership tries in more than six hours, but it wasn't enough to see off London Wasps as the visitors left Kingston Park with a 17-12 victory.
With an hour on the clock the Newcastle fans finally had a try to celebrate as wing Cato was sent over by Alex Tait – their first time crossing the whitewash since Adam Powell did so 15 minutes from time against London Irish on October 27.
But in truth the damage had already been done as Sam Jones and Ashley Johnson had gone over for Wasps to build up a 17-0 lead by the time Cato had struck.
Although captain Welch followed Cato over the whitewash with time up to earn his side a losing bonus point as Falcons scored two tries in an Premiership game for the first time since their return.
With swirling wind greeting the teams at Kingston Park the game took some time to come to life, but it did so with a bang on 13 minutes.
Joe Launchbury had already charged down a Chris Pilgrim kick and this time he did so again with devastating affect as the ball rebounded off the post and Jones picked it up and dived over the line.
That brought flyhalf Andy Goode up and the veteran made no mistake with the conversion on his 200th appearance in the competition.
However Goode didn't have it all his own way an on 20 minutes he sent a penalty wide of the uprights as he slipped on connection.
But he didn't panic and when the time came for him to have another shot on 35 minutes Goode made no mistake to stretch Wasps' lead.
Newcastle had the chance to peg their visitors back just before the break but Phil Godman sent his close-range penalty wide meaning the Falcons headed into the break 10-0 behind having drawn a blank in the first 40 minutes for the third time this campaign.
The second-half started with London Wasps exerting pressure on Newcastle, Elliot Daly causing the hosts all sorts of trouble with some clever kicking in behind.
And on 54 minutes that pressure told as Johnson barged his way over following a powerful driving maul, Goode once again adding the extras.
However six minutes later Newcastle replied through Cato. Godman delayed his pass to Tait perfectly who then fed the ball back inside for Cato to go over despite the best efforts of Wasps' Tom Palmer.
Newcastle kept fighting right until the end and their pressure saw Wasps' James Haskell sin-binned.
And their pressure told as with time up Welch buried his way over and Godman added the conversion, although it couldn't prevent London Wasps from recording their third consecutive Premiership away victory.
The scorers:
For Newcastle Falcons:
Tries: Cato, Welch
Con: Godman
For London Wasps:
Tries: Jones, Johnson
Cons: Goode 2
Pen: Goode
Yellow card: James Haskell (London Wasps, 80)
Teams:
Newcastle Falcons: 15 Alex Tait, 14 Noah Cato, 13 Jamie Helleur, 12 James Fitzpatrick, 11 Ryan Shortland, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Warren Fury, 8 Ally Hogg, 7 Will Welch (captain), 6 Richard Mayhew, 5 Fraser McKenzie, 4 Carlo del Fava, 3 Kieran Brookes, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Rob Vickers.
Replacements: 16 George McGuigan, 17 Franck Montanella, 18 Oliver Tomaszczyk, 19 Sean Tomes, 20 Mark Wilson, 21 Chris Pilgrim, 22 Rory Clegg, 23 Danny Barnes.
London Wasps: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Will Helu, 13 Chris Bell (captain), 12 Charlie Hayter, 11 Tom Varndell, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Charlie Davies, 8 Sam Jones, 7 James Haskell, 6 Ashley Johnson, 5 Joe Launchbury, 4 Tom Palmer, 3 Jake Cooper-Woolley, 2 Carlo Festuccia, 1 Matt Mullan.
Replacements: 16 Tom Lindsay, 17 Taione Vea, 18 Phil Swainston, 19 James Cannon, 20 Ed Jackson, 21 Joe Simpson, 22 Joe Carlisle, 23 Andrew Suniula.
Referee: Wayne Barnes
Assistant Referees: Andy Watson & Robin Goodliffe
TMO: Trevor Fisher
