Falcons cruise past Castres

Newcastle ran out convincing 40-13 winners over Castres at Kingston Park on Saturday to earn a spot in the European Challenge Cup semi-finals.

The Falcons ended a five-match losing run, scoring five tries to one as Jonny Wilkinson weighed in with fifteen points, including a drop goal, to set up a semi-final against Worcester.

It was Newcastle's first win under interim coach Steve Bates.

Slanting snow showers greeted Castres, but it was Newcastle who had to play into the wind in the first-half.

After conceding an early penalty to Romain Teulet, the Falcons took a 5-3 lead with a fourth-minute try when Toby Flood surged through from the restart and floated a long pass out to John Rudd - who scored in the corner.

A quick line-out led to a try for lock Iosefa Tekori, who simply ploughed through for a 10th-minute touchdown converted by Teulet.

But Jonny Wilkinson hit back with a penalty two minutes later.

Newcastle lost Ben Woods to the sin bin in the 21st minute for diving in. It looked a harsh decision, but Teulet made it 13-8 with the penalty.

Mathew Tait exploded out of his own 22, and both Rudd and Tom May nearly broke through.

But Castres counter-attacked, and Tait had to move smartly to race back and collect a kick through as Castres number eight Florian Faure joined Woods in the sin-bin for killing the ball.

Another terrific break almost put Jamie Noon through - but with a penalty signalled, Wilkinson calmly dropped a goal and then slotted a 40 metre penalty right on half-time to edge the Falcons 14-13 ahead.

The second-half started with Tom Dillon darting down the right wing and prop Carl Hayman piling in to pick up and score in the corner. Wilkinson converted from the touchline.

Then it was Dillon's turn to score when Wilkinson grubber-kicked through and the centre collected and stepped inside to score.

When Teulet's chip ahead was then scooped up by James Grindal there was no one to stop the scrum-half scoring under the posts. Wilkinson made it 33-13 with the conversion.

There was still enough time for Toby Flood to spin out of the tackle and send in Brent Wilson for the fifth try, and Wilkinson duly slotted the extras.