Falcons now a real threat
Newcastle Falcons may not have achieved their goal of securing victory, but the men from north east England are becoming a real threat.
Stephen Myler passed 2,000 career points for Northampton, as the Premiership leaders clinched a thrilling 39-31 victory over Newcastle at Franklin's Gardens on Friday.
Newcastle came away with a bonus point thanks to four tries from Chris Harris, George McGuigan, Alex Tait and Richard Mayhew.
They could even have stolen a shock victory – but tries from Myler, who also kicked 12 points, George Pisi, Calum Clark, Luther Burrell and a penalty try helped Northampton move six points clear at the top.
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wcastle Director of Rugby Dean Richards was delighted with the display from his young side, which is starting to show real improvement under attack coach Dave Walder.
"We have a great crop of youngsters coming through and they are holding their own in the top flight," said Richards.
"That pleases me greatly, the disappointing thing is conceding the field position to give them the tries a bit too easily, so we have got to tighten up in a few areas and then we will start winning a few more games.
"We have some positives to take out of it, we scored four tries and they were lovely tries.
"Everybody wants to have a go, Mark Wilson was outstanding, as was Tom Catterick.
"The youngsters want to have a go and challenge the opposition.
"We have got to carry on improving our game and tighten up on the small things and that will make a huge difference to the results."
