Newcastle Falcons down Castres

Newcastle Falcons claimed their fourth win from five games to start their season as they fronted up in France on Friday night.

The Falcon's depth was tested and produced an ambitious attacking performance delivered an entertaining Challenge Cup 17-26 triumph over Castres at a windy Stade Pierre Fabre.

Brett Connon producing a midfield line-break and his side earned kick at goal after a dominant first scrum drew a fourth-minute penalty. The pivot's effort flew wide on a windy evening, but his side’s attacking ambition was unperturbed as they kept the ball in hand, earning a string of free-kicks from their early scrum dominance.

Connon kept his cool to slot a penalty from out in front on the 22 in the 16th minute. A failed lineout resulted in the first try of the game as Castres scored against the run of play as winger Antoine Bouzerand scored an unconverted try in the right corner, the attempted conversion bouncing back off the right-hand post.

A clinical couple of minutes saw Bouzerand produce again just before the half-hour, this time from further out, as his long-range try took Castres into a 10-3 lead.

Tom Arscott and Pete Lucock kept the visitors in the hunt as they searched for a try of their own, but they had to make do with a second Brett Connon penalty as the fly-half slotted from 20 metres out in front. Two became three with the last play of the half when Connon’s third penalty – this time from wider out on the right – pulled his team to within a single point, the Falcons trailing 10-9 at the interval.

The Falcons continued to attack and it paid dividends in the second half as Sam Stuart scored for the second week in succession when he rounded off a move which saw debutant Chidera Obonna feeding fellow debut man Zach Kerr – the Ulsterman delivering the scoring pass to Stuart down the right. That left the Falcons four in front going into the final quarter, Philip van der Walt punching some holes in Castres’ defensive line as he made his comeback from the bench.

It got even better for the visitors on 67 minutes when Tom Arscott sped down the left wing to score – Obonna’s enterprising build-up play creating the try-scoring opportunity on an impressive senior bow.

With a man advantage, following a sin-binning for Castres, Falcons added to their lead with a third try four minutes time when Josh Basham crossed in the left corner from a quick transfer along the line, Obonna again delivering the assist, but Castres found a consolation in the dying seconds as Vilimoni Botitu scored on the intercept.