Newcastle Falcons edge out Bordeaux Begles with 20-21 win

Bordeaux Begles 20-21 Newcastle Falcons, Stade Chaban-Delmas
Scorecard

Toby Flood played a vital role as Newcastle Falcons came from behind to edge out Bordeaux Begles with a 20-21 victory in their European Rugby Challenge Cup encounter at Stade Chaban-Delmas on Saturday.

Fly-half Simon Hickey kicked the proceedings with a third minute penalty for the home side and two minutes later, Northampton lost fullback Alex Tait to sin-bin.

Marco Tauleigne pressed on the advantage and went past the line in the eighth minute and Hickey's conversion stretched their lead to 10-0.

The Falcons finally managed to show some resilience when Ryan Burrows went past the line in the 25th minute and Flood followed it with a conversion. However, it was Bordeaux who had the momentum heading into the half time as prop Sebastien Taofifenua crossed over in the 37th minute despite the French side losing Jean-Baptiste Dubie to sin-bin three minutes earlier.

The second half started with Bordeaux having a 17-7 lead over Falcons and Flood helped his side get back into the game with a converted try in the 41st minute to bring down the gap to three points.

Even though Hickey's second penalty that came in the 52nd minute, provided some breathing space to Bordeaux with their lead increased to six points, Jon Welsh with his 59th minute try reduced the trail of the Falcons to one point while Flood held his nerve in kicking the decisive conversion to take his team to a one point victory.

The Falcons with two wins from as many games top Pool 1 and Bordeaux are positioned second.