Imagine the heightened interest in this fixture had the outcome properly mattered. The Premiership’s bottom two sides scrapping for survival, the losers set to face an end-of-season playoff against the ambitious champions of the Championship? Let’s just say the largely flat atmosphere around the stadium would have been significantly enhanced.
The attendance of less than 10,000 would also have been boosted, the pre-game media buildup seriously intense. Instead, with only bruised pride at stake, the lack of real jeopardy was impossible to ignore. Unless, that is, you are responsible for unearthing fresh investment to keep Newcastle Falcons in business, in which case the loudly ticking clock drowns out all else.
Everyone with an ounce of rugby soul wants the Falcons to keep on flying the north-east flag as high as possible. So do the rest of the Premiership clubs for whom the optics of a nine-team league would not look great. Ten sides is already skinny enough when it comes to generating sufficient games and storylines to attract mass interest and promote the sense of a healthy domestic game.
It was in everyone’s interests, then, for these clubs to put on a bit of a show to paper over the promotional cracks and underline that good rugby will ultimately sell itself.
So much for that crowd-pleasing vision. The second half did not yield a single point until the 79th minute when Greg Fisilau was finally put clear to score in the left corner and save Exeter’s increasing blushes.
Newcastle’s disappointment was compounded by the belief Fisilau’s try should have been disallowed because of an illegal clear-out by Tamati Tua several phases earlier. “There was a clear act of foul play in buildup to the try,” said Steve Diamond, Newcastle’s director of rugby.
“I don’t know for the life of me why the TMO doesn’t have a look at it at least. I didn’t see it live … but on the first replay I’ve seen it’s ridiculous. Callum Chick [the Newcastle captain] asked the ref to check it, but nothing.
“If we are going to take foul play out of the game then let’s not waste time and just look at forward passes to see whether a try is a try. I am disappointed with the officials, but fair play to Exeter. Someone has to lose and it was us today. If we turn up like that every week, we wouldn’t be bottom of the league.”
Diamond went on to concede, though, that a game featuring 27 penalties had not been a classic. “It’s two poor sides, let’s be honest. Two sides bumbling around at the bottom of the league.”
The Chiefs started brightly enough, with Will Rigg going over in the corner to open the scoring after seven minutes, but finishing what they start remains a recurring problem.
Suitably encouraged, Newcastle slowly clawed their way back into the fray, helped initially when their scrum-half, Joe Davis, making his first start, intercepted a delayed pass from Ben Coen and scored unopposed. Just before the half-hour, the visitors edged ahead, with centre Max Clark surging past Josh Hodge’s tackle to put Newcastle 12-7 in front. Diamond has instilled a simple gameplan that, if nothing else, makes his side harder to beat.
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Exeter duly took the hint and tightened things up themselves, having accrued a solitary try from their first nine visits to their opponents’ 22. The yellow card of Richard Palframan at a lineout also offered them a numerical advantage and it was not a huge surprise when the busy Martin Moloney was driven over to level up the scores again.
A Brett Connon penalty did put Newcastle narrowly ahead at the interval, but a stiff breeze was now at the Chiefs’ backs. In days gone by – and Exeter were crowned European Champions less than five years ago – the rest would have been a foregone conclusion. That kind of certainty, however, has been glimpsed only fleetingly this season.
Sure enough, the Falcons still had their beaks in front entering the final quarter, with Chiefs looking less and less sure of themselves. Coen, England’s Under-20 fly-half, was twice unable to find touch from penalties and Newcastle, sensing possibilities, defended with increasing resolve.
They almost made it, only for Fisilau to round off a prolonged period of Exeter possession with 73 seconds of normal time left.
