Steve Bates made a number of changes to the side which beat Leicester on Sunday, with Ollie Phillips, Steve Jones and Hall Charlton coming into the backs.  Micky Ward, Matt Thompson, Mark Sorenson, Brent Wilson and Russell Winter took their places in the pack.

Alex Tait, just weeks after suffering a serious injury at Leeds, replaced departing brother Mathew at the last minute, Tom May moving to centre.

The Falcons dominated the first few minutes and after winning a central scrum, forced a penalty which May kicked over to give us the lead.

The dangerous Paul Sackey, who took a number of big hits on the night, broke through about five tackles before finally spilling the ball in the tackle, and Jones had to be alert to stop a kick through to the left.

Having lasted less than a quarter of an hour, Tait Junior was forced off by a clash of heads and replaced at full-back by Rob Miller, who had a ’mare in the 15 position, particularly under the high ball.

Miller was also forced to palm into touch in his own right corner with an attacker bearing down, yielding a penalty which Danny Cipriani kicked over.

After Jones failed to collect his own hack on the left, Wasps countered quickly, Josh Lewsey almost making it to the line, but James Haskell was able to score from close range for the night’s first try.

The lead lasted just a few minutes though as Miller, now at fly-half, came across the pitch to set up May for a try on the half hour.  May, ending the season in the form in which he began it, was relieved of kicking duties by the young replacement, who couldn’t convert the score.

Wasps came back though, and Jones pulled out of a tackle on the rampaging John Hart on the 22, allowing the away captain to charge to the line before finally being hauled down, but Tom Rees fought through a couple of phases later, Cipriani converting the try.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen as many knock-ons in a game as last night, and from another scrum on halfway we foraged down the left, before a kick was sent over to the right for Phillips to collect and score our second try, which was again not converted and left us 13-15 down at half-time.

After a decent showing in the first 40, everything fell apart for the Falcons after the break as they rarely looked likely to score again.  After kicking a penalty to the corner and attacking on the left, the ball was lost and Sackey raced the length of the pitch to score.  Little chase was given past halfway, it would’ve been in vain anyway, and Cipriani’s conversion left us with a mountain to climb to end the home season with a win.

Dippy’s second penalty increased our deficit further.

Of our next two attacking penalties, the first was kicked to goal (and missed), much to the crowd’s disillusion, and though the second did go to the corner, we knocked on on our right after almost allowing Lewsey to steal in the middle.

With the game getting scrappy and the Falcons making no progress with the ball in hand, May sent a booming kick into the corner, the ball bouncing out just inches from the tryline flag.  Though the crowd was momentarily galvanised, a Wasp absolutely flew through the lineout and won his side a controversial penalty, allowing them to clear.

With four minutes to go and Wasps camped in our 22, a succession of penalties led to Lewsey crossing for his side’s vital bonus point try, the conversion leaving us 13-32 down.

Though for the last couple of minutes the Falcons went back on the attack, after we knocked on Wasps kicked the ball behind to end the game, and become the first reigning European champions to beat us at home.

And so that’s it for another year of professional rugby in the North East, with six wins and five defeats from our 11 home league games making it a poor season.  Let’s hope for a win on Saturday to save us from our worst-ever Premiership finish.

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