Bristol add to Falcons' woes

Newcastle's poor week failed to improve with the Falcons crashing to a 28-8 defeat to Bristol.

The Kingston Park club parted company with director of rugby John Fletcher and forwards coach Peter Walton in mid-week - but there was little sign of any improvement on the pitch.

A try for the visitors after just two minutes set the tone, with the Falcons finding themselves 17-0 down by half-time.

Teenage fly-half Rob Miller may have scored a try on his debut, however that will have done little to lift the mood - with stand-in chief Steve Bates left with plenty to do.

For Bristol, Scott Linklater, Joe El Abd and Anthony Elliott crossed for tries while Ed Barnes landed 13 points with the boot.

It was Linklater that got Richard Hill's side of to the perfect start when he stepped past Tom May after just two minutes to score, with Barnes converting.

Sin-binned

And the visitors were 14-0 in front 20 minutes later when flanker El Abd broke off the back of a driving maul to score, with Barnes again adding the extras.

Both sides were reduced to 14 men five minutes before the interval when Newcastle prop Phil Dowson and Bristol hooker Linklater were sin-binned following a flare-up.

However it was Bristol who kept the momentum as Barnes adding a penalty.

Newcastle, though, came out fighting in the second half, with 18-year-old Miller, an England Under-20s international, scoring his first try for the club following a scything break from May.

Although Miller missed the conversion, he was on target with a penalty to cut the deficit to nine points.

However any hopes of a Newcastle comeback were killed off by the boot of Barnes, with the Bristol No.10 landing two more penalties.

And the visitors put the result beyond doubt with four minutes left when winger Elliott intercepted Tim Visser's pass to score.