He was man of the match and clearly a candidate to go as a replacement to England's beleaguered camp, but Newcastle's Toby Flood contrived bewilderment when pressed afterwards about his 'contest' with Charlie Hodgson. "I was so naive I didn't even realise he was playing," said Flood of his opposite number, who was playing his first game in almost a year.
A cynic might say that many at the ground may not have realised Hodgson was playing, so modest was his contribution. He concentrated on distribution, never attempting a break, and although he was frequently in attendance in the tackle area it was hard to spot him actually tackling.
It was loyal of his coach, Philippe Saint-Andre, to praise the fly-half's defence. But, as the coach added, Hodgson "did well to finish the 80 minutes" in what was clearly an anxious return after his horrible cruciate ligament injury last November.
As for Flood, his work was increasingly gilded with flair - and fortune, as two tries came from his hoisted kicks. If the first one, angled back to the corner, harnessed the wind direction, the second was seized by the wind coming off the top of the West Stand, drifting away from Sale hands and into Newcastle's.
"We played well into the wind," said a disgruntled Saint Andre, "but were awful against it." But his opposite number, John Fletcher, more shrewdly observed that it was "a typical Kingston Park wind - you always seem to be playing against it." Where Sale - who have never won on this ground - really lost the game was when replacement Chris Jones was sin-binned and Newcastle scored 14 points in 10 minutes. Even so, the Falcons exerted enough pressure throughout to deserve their bonus-point win, as did Flood yet another match award at Kingston Park.
Newcastle: Burke (Hoyle, 76); May, Mayerhofler (Jones, 72), Shaw, Phillips; Flood, Grindal (Dickson, 66); McDonnell, Thompson (Long, 59), Ward (D Wilson, 66), Buist (Perry, 55), Sorenson, Parling, Woods (B Wilson, 70), Dowson (capt). Tries May, Mayerhofler, Grindal, Phillips. Cons Flood 2. Pens Flood 2. Drop-goal: Flood.
Sale: Foden; Mayor, Keil (Bell, 74), Thomas, Hanley (Ripol, 68); Hodgson, Martens (Wrigglesworth, 60); Faure (Evans, 75), Briggs, Evans (Turner, 55), Schofield (capt), Cox, Lund, Hills (M Jones), Bonner Evans, (C Jones, 47) . Sin-bin: Jones, 60. Tries Foden, Thomas. Con Hodgson.
Referee R Debney (Leicestershire)
Attendance 5,859
