Deano delight after Falcons stick to the game script

……..10pts

……..26pts

will head into the campaign on the back of an unbeaten pre-season programme after they got the better of Edinburgh Rugby at the opening of the new ERS ground in the Scottish capital.

A large crowd turned out to watch Edinburgh play their first ever 80 minutes at the stadium in the shadow of BT Murrayfield, but it was the visitors who headed home with victory after an entertaining afternoon.

After adding the result to recent victories over Warriors and , Falcons director of rugby Dean Richards said: “It was a good performance from the boys and I was happy with a lot of what we did.

“The standout thing for me was our ability to keep going from the first minute until the last.

“We haven't shown that in our other preseason games to the same extent and our attacking principles were good as well.

“We'd set our stall out to play a certain way, which we did do, and our understanding of how to play the conditions was better than it has been.”

stand-off Jaco van der Walt became the first man to score points at the ERS – and the first points of new head coach Mike Blair's era at the club – to put Edinburgh 3-0 up early on.

In the 19th minute the Falcons took the lead when scrum-half Louis Schreuder intercepted a pass and ran the length to score a try. Stand-off Brett Connon converted.

Nine minutes later a well-timed offload by winger Damien Hoyland put Edinburgh centre Mark Bennett away for a try and when Van der Walt added the extras they were 10-7 up.

Pace: Lindsay-Hague
Last word: Wacokekoce

In the 34th minute hooker George McGuigan showed his power to go over for an unconverted try and it meant Newcastle had a slender 12-10 lead at the break.

In the second half, as is customary at this time of the year, both sides made a raft of changes and it was the Falcons new boys who adapted the better.

Four minutes into the half Ollie Lindsay- Hague showed good pace to flat foot the Edinburgh defence and score try number three for the visitors, fellow replacement Louie Johnson converting.

That 19-10 scoreline was the way it stayed until the dying stages when sub George Wacokecoke ripped the ball free and ran in from distance for a try converted by Johnson.