Newcastle vs Sale - Friday evening

[Puja]

The teams:

Newcastle Falcons: 15 Tom Penny, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Luther Burrell, 12 Toby Flood, 11 Ben Stevenson, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Michael Young (c), 8 Gary Graham, 7 Connor Collett, 6 Sean Robinson, 5 Marco Fuser, 4 Greg Peterson, 3 Logovi’i Mulipola, 2 George McGuigan, 1 Trevor Davison
Replacements: 16 Jamie Blamire, 17 Adam Brocklebank, 18 Mark Tampin, 19 Darren Barry, 20 Josh Basham, 21 Sam Stuart, 22 Joel Hodgson, 23 Pete Lucock

Sale Sharks: 15 Luke James, 14 Denny Solomona, 13 Sam James, 12 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 11 Simon Hammersley, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Daniel du Preez, 7 Ben Curry (c), 6 Jean-Luc du Preez, 5 James Phillips, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Akker van der Merwe, 1 Valerey Morozov
Replacements: 16 Curtis Langdon, 17 Bevan Rodd, 18 Jake Cooper-Woolley, 19 Matt Postlethwaite, 20 Sam Dugdale, 21 Will Cliff, 22 Rob du Preez, 23 Marland Yarde

Date: Friday, November 27
Venue: Kingston Park
Kick-off: 19:45 GMT
Referee: Wayne Barnes
Assistant referees: Karl Dickson, Wayne Falla
Television match official: Trevor Fisher

[Puja]

Hard to see a second Newcastle victory from those two lineups, but then I didn't see them winning last week either!

Puja

[fivepointer]

Yep, man for man only one winner. Quite impressed with Newcastle last week but back to back wins are going to be a stretch for them i think.

[16th man]

The Newcastle Sale games in the north east have been some of the worst matches I've ever seen over the last few years.

[Peej]

Yeah, I definitely think Newcastle could be a team that's more than the sum of their parts.

Is Wilson injured?

[Mellsblue]

The Battle of t’ North is back and I’ll be tuning in. Good quality fare or not, it’s good for the game as a whole.

[p/d]

Is Lord Hammer on wing due to injuries, or is tactical?

[Puja]

Is Lord Hammer on wing due to injuries, or is tactical?

MC Simon was on the wing last week too. I suspect that 15 is where they see LJames ending up permanently and he's staked a claim for the first team jersey.

Puja

[p/d]

Is Lord Hammer on wing due to injuries, or is tactical?

MC Simon was on the wing last week too. I suspect that 15 is where they see LJames ending up permanently and he's staked a claim for the first team jersey.

Puja

ah. Makes sense

[alext95]

The Newcastle Sale games in the north east have been some of the worst matches I've ever seen over the last few years.

2019: 22-17 at St James’ Park in a bloody good game with Newcastle scrapping for their Prem lives

2018: 35-30 in a game including Sale coming back from 25-0, a last minute winning try for Falcons and 2 length of the pitch scores.

You must only watch some exceptional rugby if those are some of the worst matches you’ve ever seen...or is it just that your argument is missing “facts”.

[Mellsblue]

Punchy first post. Welcome, you’ll fit right in.

[Puja]

The Newcastle Sale games in the north east have been some of the worst matches I've ever seen over the last few years.

2019: 22-17 at St James’ Park in a bloody good game with Newcastle scrapping for their Prem lives

2018: 35-30 in a game including Sale coming back from 25-0, a last minute winning try for Falcons and 2 length of the pitch scores.

You must only watch some exceptional rugby if those are some of the worst matches you’ve ever seen...or is it just that your argument is missing “facts”.

I have been only been watching for 5 minutes, but literally there has been one tackle because every other time someone has had the ball it has either been kicked or passed to someone to kick. Past performance no guarantee of future rewards, evidently.

Puja

[Peej]

This game continues to plumb new depths of tedium

[FKAS]

This game continues to plumb new depths of tedium

And yet Falcons fans will be beaming from ear to ear at the prospect of two wins from two when most were probably expecting to scrape along the bottom of the table.

[Oakboy]

This game continues to plumb new depths of tedium

They can't even liven it up with a real punch-up.

[Mellsblue]

Is Eddie Jones coaching both sides. That’s the longest game of kick tennis I’ve ever seen.

[Mellsblue]

The top 17 longest rallies in kick tennis history and a last second winning try....are you not entertained?

[FKAS]

Good finish. Falcons won't care about the level of entertainment. Sale can't be happy looking at that level of performance.

[Raggs]

I'm not exactly sure why, probably because of how often they've beaten Wasps, but it makes my heart a little bit happy when Sale lose.

[Mellsblue]

I’ve not much issue with the promoted team in their second match of the season, without a competitive fixture since mid-March prior to that, kicking a lot and playing a conservative gameplan. Sale on the other other hand.

[jimKRFC]

Bit of a surprise result that! Glad to see Newcs doing well.

[padprop]

Well from this result, the future of england’s 12 is obvious. Give Flood his shot.

[Stom]

I'm not exactly sure why, probably because of how often they've beaten Wasps, but it makes my heart a little bit happy when Sale lose.

Diamond.

It’s Diamond.

I also cheer for anyone but sale.

[Puja]

I'm not exactly sure why, probably because of how often they've beaten Wasps, but it makes my heart a little bit happy when Sale lose.

Diamond.

It’s Diamond.

I also cheer for anyone but sale.

I was torn. I'm not confident enough about Leicester to be cheering on our relegation rivals, but I also don't want Sale to win.

Puja

[fivepointer]

I’ve not much issue with the promoted team in their second match of the season, without a competitive fixture since mid-March prior to that, kicking a lot and playing a conservative gameplan. Sale on the other other hand.

Yep, Newcastle are playing an ultra conservative style, which given their lack of game time and elevation to the Premiership you can understand. Hopefully they will play with a bit more pace and ambition in the months ahead.
Sale were pretty dreadful i thought.
On the whole, it wasnt a game to lift the spirits.