Match Centre: Newcastle Falcons 30-15 Bristol Bears
Henry Purdy's try went in vain for Bristol Bears
©PA
Newcastle Falcons 30-15 Bristol Bears, Kingston Park
Mateo Carreras starred with a double as Newcastle Falcons registered their first win in the ongoing Gallagher Premiership season with a 30-15 victory at Kingston Park on Friday.
The win meant Newcastle have moved to 11th place in the table while Bristol are at second after losing their first game of the season.
The opening points of the game came in the 13th minute as fly-half AJ MacGinty slotted a penalty goal before fly-half Tian Schoeman sent a long looping pass for Mateo Carreras to dive in the corner. Schoeman though missed out on the conversion as the scoreline remained at 5-3.
The end of the first quarter saw Bristol down to 14 players with Ed Holmes sin-binned and a minute later, Newcastle got their second try with Connor Collett diving in the corner at the back of a rolling maul.
Schoeman once again missed out on the conversion but made amends in their third try that came around the half hour mark with George McGuigan diving from close range after good work from Callum Chick and Trevor Davison as the scoreline became 17-3 at the end of the opening half.
The start of the second half saw Newcastle down to 14 players temporarily with Sean Robinson sent to sin-bin for offside defending their own try-line. With the numerical advantage this time with Bristol, they immediately made impact as Henry Purdy crossed for an unconverted try at the back of a five-metre scrum.
The visitors clawed their way back into the game as Harry Randall handed the Bears front-foot ball 10 metres out and they quickly worked through eventually Richard Lane going over. AJ MacGinty kicked the conversion to bring down the gap to two points before Schoeman's penalty increased Newcastle's lead to five points by the 63rd minute.
As the game entered the final five minutes, Schoeman with another three-pointer made it 23-15 before Carreras completed his second in the closing stage to complete a thrilling win for the Falcons.
Team line up:
Newcastle: Penny, Radwan, Moroni, Orlando, Carreras, Schoeman, Stuart, Brocklebank, McGuigan, Davison, Peterson, Robinson, Welch, Collett, Chick.
Reserves: Maddison, Mulipola, Palframan, De Chaves, Blamire, Barton, Lucock, Wacokecoke.
Bristol: Lane, Morahan, Bates, O'Conor, Purdy, MacGinty, Uren, Woolmore, Capon, Sinckler, Holmes, Joyce, Vui, Heenan, Bradbury.
Reserves: Thacker, Y Thomas, Lahiff, Hawkins, D Thomas, Randall, Sheedy, Bedlow.
