Newcastle, who had frozen a week earlier at Leicester according to their director of rugby Rob Andrew, turned up the heat a few notches in the Tyneside sunshine yesterday.
With Jonny Wilkinson, in particular, on a hot streak, the improvement was enough to end Leeds' unbeaten Premiership record. Only a late penalty from Braam van Straaten gave them the scant consolation of a bonus point. Leeds may have avoided relegation only on a technicality last spring, but they have enjoyed their reprieve like Jeffrey Archer with a sackful of luncheon vouchers. Even the team in second place yesterday morning were unable to get out of jail, however.
"I knew we could bounce back," said Andrew. "We're a young side and players suffer from nerves when they've lost three games on the trot. This was reflected in some of our first-half play but I thought that, after the break, some of our passing and movement was outstanding."
Kingston Park is undergoing a £12m facelift and, like the ground, the team are in the process of reconstruction. Gone is the steel of Inga Tuigamala, Pat Lam and Gary Armstrong and Andrew's side has a callow look. Leeds' bigger pack threatened some serious demolition work in the first half but the backs' handling let them down. Even Van Straaten failed to find his range with two early long-distance penalties and first blood went to the Falcons through Wilkinson after eight minutes.
Newcastle extended their advantage when the scrum-half Hall Charlton found a gap between Diego Albanese and Dan Scarbrough and darted over for a soft try. A minute before the break, though, Leeds won a ruck, Gordon Ross hoisted a Garryowen to the corner and the strapping Samoan wing George Harder broke Liam Botham's tackle for a try in the corner.
After the break, Ross appeared to have dropped a goal, but the referee David Pearson ruled that the kick had gone under rather than over the crossbar. Van Straaten did equalise with his first penalty but it was Newcastle, with Jamie Noon and Botham dangerous on the counter-attack, who were better able to crank up their game. An exchange of passes with Noon allowed Wilkinson to deliver an exquisite scoring pass for Stuart Grimes to storm over from the 22. Wilkinson converted nervelessly from the touchline.
Leeds hit back when Scarbrough burst through to dab down between the posts and Van Straaten's simple conversion equalised. But then, after Wilkinson had put Newcastle ahead with another penalty, the Falcons sealed the match with the match's best eight minutes from time.
A swerving run by Wilkinson, whose older brother Mark was making his debut at fullback, took play from the halfway line and the England fly-half swerved through the tiring Leeds defence to give Noon the opportunity to score under the posts.
Newcastle: M Wilkinson; Botham, Noon, J Wilkinson (capt), Shaw (Godman, 30); May, Charlton; Peel (Ward, 67), Brotherstone (Thompson, 58), Ward (Hurter, ht), Hamilton, Grimes, Dunbar, Devonshire (Otuvaka, 80), Arnold (Dowson, 74).
Tries: Charlton, Grimes, Noon. Cons: J Wilkinson 3. Pens: J Wilkinson 2.
Leeds: Scarbrough; Harder, Davies, Van Straaten, Albanese; Ross, Hegarty; Shelley (capt), Regan, Kerr, Murphy, Palmer, Mather, Hyde, Feaunati.
Tries: Harder, Scarbrough. Cons: Van Straaten 2. Pens: Van Straaten 2.
Attendance: 5,457.
Referee: D Pearson (Northumberland).
