Premiership Rugby Cup: Newcastle Falcons and Northampton Saints seal huge wins but miss out on semi-finals

Newcastle Falcons secured second in Pool B of the Premiership Rugby Cup with a 66-13 victory over Championship side Caldy at Kingston Park.

The Falcons couldn’t qualify for the semi-finals after Leicester Tigers were confirmed as the group winners but made it four wins from five as they ran in 10 tries to end the tournament on a high.

Iwan Stephens got the first of his two scores when he touched down in the second minute at the end of a slick move.

Caldy hit back in the 18th minute when hooker Ted Stagg scored in the corner before the visitors moved ahead after Newcastle’s Ollie Fletcher was sin-binned and Matt Kilcourse kicked the resultant penalty six minutes later.

The Falcons weren’t behind for long, though, as scrum-half Ben Douglas crossed the line in the 26th minute before the hosts moved out of sight.

Further first-half tries from Michael van Vuuren and George Wacokecoke made it 26-8 at the break.

Fletcher then made up for his earlier yellow card to score the first of six Newcastle tries in the second period as the home side ran out comfortable victors.

In the other Premiership Rugby Cup clash, Northampton Saints demolished Doncaster Knights 82-12 at Franklin’s Gardens.

Like Newcastle, Northampton could do no better than finish second in their group, but still put 12 tries past their Championship opponents.

A first-half brace from Tom Pearson flanked a George Furbank try, before Archie McParland crossed the line in the 39th minute to secure a bonus point and a 28-7 lead at the break.

With the floodgates open, McParland bagged himself a hat-trick as the hosts touched down a further eight times in the second half to clinch a dominant 70-point win.

The result took the Saints above Bristol Bears but saw them fail to make the last four.

Gloucester Rugby, Leicester Tigers, Exeter Chiefs and Ealing Trailfinders topped the four respective groups and will face-off in the semi-finals.

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