Newcastle Falcons 57

Southern Knights 10

By David Morrison

at Kingston Park

MORE than 5,000 fans braved the cold on Saturday to see Newcastle Falcons claim the inaugural Doddie’s Club Trophy.

Proceeds from the match went to Doddie Weir’s MND foundation.

And the fundraising crowd were entertained as the home team ran out convincing winners over the Melrose-based visitors.

Newcastle opened the scoring in the sixth minute with Charlie Maddison crossing for a try out wide.

Brett Connon added the conversion.

The Southern Knights showed their intent as they kicked a penalty to the corner - only for the Falcons to steal the resulting line-out.

Newcastle doubled their lead on 18 minutes when prop Trevor Davison showed great leg-drive to power through a tackle and ground the ball.

Connon again added the extras.

Just five minutes later Maddison steered the maul over the line for his second score of the game.

And the fourth try followed a short time later as Nemani Nagusa ploughed over from a short pop in the same corner.

Chidera Obonna kept up the point-a-minute scoring when he sped into the left corner from a kick return.

There was time for one more try before the break as Maddison completed his hat-trick from yet another driving maul.

Connon’s fourth conversion took the half-time lead to 38-0.

The Knights kept battling in the second half despite the scoreboard not making easy reading.

And they were a man to the good when hat-trick hero Maddison was sin-binned for an infringement near his own try-line during the early exchanges.

The visitors almost found a try from the resulting scrum as a cross-field kick bounced dead in goal.

But their pressure finally got the rewards it deserved when scrum-half Struan Hutchison darted in for a try on 55 minutes.

The Falcons hit back when lock Bailey Ransom scored impressively in the left corner despite some heavy defensive attention.

Connon converted from the touchline.

The Knights responded with replacement Billy Wara scoring an unconverted try in the right corner from a long, looping pass.

Replacement Josh Basham raced down the left to score again for Newcastle.

There was still time for one more try, Bailey Ransom darting into the right corner from Freddie Lockwod's pass.

Will Haydon-Wood curled in the touchline conversion to complete the scoring.

Newcastle Falcons XV: 15 Alex Tait, 14 Josh Hodge, 13 Dominic Waldouck (captain), 12 Gareth Owen, 11 Chidera Obonna, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Cameron Nordli-Kelemeti; 1 Trevor Davison, 2 Charlie Maddison, 3 Mike Daniels, 4 Bailey Ransom, 5 Rob Farrar, 6 Simon Uzokwe, 7 Guy Graham, 8 Nemani Nagusa. Reps: Conrad Cade, Adam Brocklebank, Oscar Caudle, Freddie Lockwood, Josh Basham, Callum Pascoe, Joel Matavesi, Charlie Wilson, Harry Hill, Will Haydon-Wood, Callum Young.

Southern Knights: 15 Ciaran Whyte, 14 Patrick Anderson, 13 Joseph jenkins, 12 Gavin Wood, 11 Jacob Henry, 10 Jason Baggott, 9 Struan Hutchison; 1 Sean Gunn, 2 Finn Scott, 3 Ewan McQuillan, 4 Alan Gregory, 5 James Head, 6 Andrew Nagle, 7 Ruaridh Knott, 8 Rory Darge (captain). Reps: Fraser Renwick, Grant Shiells, Conor Young, Calum Crookshanks, Angus Runciman, Tom Robertson, Russell Anderson, Bruce Colvine, Liam Herdman, Iain Simm, Michael Mvulase, Billy Wara.