Tigers swept away by Flood
By Ben Blackmore
Last Updated: 28/07/24 6:55pm
Toby Flood won the battle of the fly-halves to snatch victory for Newcastle.
Toby Flood won the battle of the fly-halves as Newcastle Falcons edged a 31-29 thriller against Leicester Tigers at Kingston Park.
Fresh from his call-up to the England squad, Flood got the better of the man he replaced - Andy Goode - to secure a priceless win for the Falcons.
The Newcastle stand-off grabbed a try in a 21-point individual haul for the home side, who also had John Rudd to thank for a try-scoring brace.
Goode matched Flood's effort with 21 points of his own, but it was the Newcastle man who had the last laugh as he knocked over a 79th-minute 50-yard penalty to snatch victory.
The result moves John Fletcher's men 10 points clear of bottom club Worcester Warriors who lost at Wasps, while a losing bonus point takes Leicester level at the top with Bristol, whose game was postponed.
In truth, few would have predicted the nail-biting finale that ensued after a less-than-inspiring opening 40 minutes.
Leicester looked set to do a professional job when Goode grabbed the only try of the first half, capitalising on James Grindal's error deep inside the Newcastle half to score one of the easiest touchdowns of his career.
The Falcons could muster just two Flood penalties in reply as the visitors took a 16-6 lead into the break.
Flanker Ben Woods thought he had opened the scoring early in the contest after darting over from close range, but referee Sean Davey had already called a re-scrum.
Much of the ball rested with the home side as Mark Mayerhofler also went close, but the Tigers were deadly in using Goode to punish their opponents for every small error.
The second half threatened more of the same as Rudd wasted a glorious opening, misjudging Tom May's lengthy cut-out pass with the Leicester whitewash begging to be crossed.
Newcastle were not made to rue that miss for long though, with Flood making the most of Jamie Hamilton's sin-binning - given for killing the ball.
The Falcons fly-half benefited from a powerful push by his forwards, eventually darting over from inside the 22 to cut the deficit to 16-13.
Goode was quick to reply though, punishing Woods' indiscipline - which also earned a yellow card - with a 51st-minute penalty to send the Tigers six points clear.
Fortune seemed to be favouring the visitors as the lead quickly became 26-13 thanks to a controversial Leon Lloyd try.
Lewis Moody appeared to knock on at the ruck in the build-up to the score, but the indiscretion was not spotted and Goode was able to add to his tally with the conversion.
Rudd then made his telling contribution with two tries in nine minutes to drag the Falcons right back into the contest.
First, he latched onto another May cut-out pass to barge over, and then he chased a lost cause to capitalise on a wicked bounce that wrong-footed Sam Vesty and Murphy on the cover.
With the scores now reading 26-25 in Leicester's favour, it was time for Flood to step up to the mark, kicking a 75th-minute penalty to put Newcastle ahead for the first time.
The Tigers were not finished though and when the hosts' scrum stood up, Vesty took on the departed Goode's kicking duties to restore their lead with less than three minutes on the clock.
However, Flood still had one final chapter to write, nailing a huge penalty from near the halfway line to send Kingston Park into raptures.
