Falcons fail French test

Newcastle were beaten 36-22 by French outfit Brive in their European Challenge Cup clash on Thursday night.

The Falcons endured the worst possible start in France as former Leicester fly-half Andy Goode set up South African Ronnie Cooke for a try that he converted in the first minute of the match.

The Guinness Premiership outfit never quite recovered from that early setback and Goode kicked a further 19 points as Brive ultimately ran out convincing winners.

The contest at a rain-sodden Stade Municipal proved something of a rude awakening for Newcastle who had opened their Pool 4 campaign with a resounding 63-0 victory over Spanish minnows El Salvador last week.

Goode got the ball rolling for the hosts as his clever kick allowed Cooke to score under the posts within 60 seconds and, having added the extras, Goode slotted the first of five penalties shortly afterwards.

Rory Clegg cut the deficit on 27 minutes as he raced over after a neat step and then slotted a penalty just after the break to keep the visitors in touch at 13-8.

Goode landed two more penalties to edge Brive clear again, but Newcastle gave themselves renewed hope just before the hour as Tim de Visser powered over for a try which, along with Clegg's conversion, cut the deficit to just four points at 19-15.

However, substitute Johan van Zyl reasserted Brive's dominance by touching down five minutes later and when Newcastle's John Rudd was sin-binned for an off-the-ball clash with former England hooker Steve Thompson eight minutes from time the game was up for the Falcons.

The Frenchmen made their numerical advantage pay as another replacement, Jean-Baptiste Pejoine, scored the hosts' third try of the evening which rendered Ollie Phillips' last-minute score little more than a consolation for Newcastle.