Newcastle hand Richard Wigglesworth’s Leicester successive comprehensive defeats

Newcastle Falcons 45 Leicester Tigers 26

Leicester Tigers were consigned to successive heavy defeats after an impressive Newcastle Falcons display that left head coach Dave Walder in raptures after his side ended a four-year winless run against the reigning Gallagher Premiership champions.

Interim Leicester head coach Richard Wigglesworth won his first game in charge after Steve Borthwick left the club for the national side but has now suffered comprehensive losses to Sale Sharks and Newcastle.

Mateo Carreras starred for Newcastle in the dominant 45-26 victory and was at his mesmeric best, scoring three of the Falcons’ six tries but Walder believes the entire team played their part in a memorable triumph.

Callum Chick, Jamie Blamire and Matias Moroni were also on the scoresheet for the Falcons, who have now won each of their last three Premiership fixtures at Kingston Park and their upturn in form means they sit just five points off the top four.

It was the hosts who found the breakthrough on 14 minutes – Carreras finished a wonderful move from right to left and Connon added the extras to give his side a seven-point lead.

Things got worse for the champions when Freddie Steward was sent to the sin-bin for blocking Carreras a minute later, but they held firm against the storm from the Falcons.

The Argentine was proving a huge thorn in the Tigers’ side – he almost grabbed a second try on the left wing when he chipped the ball forward to run onto, but was deceived by the bounce.

It did not take long for the score to come, however, as Chick drove under the posts on 27 minutes to leave Connon with the simplest of conversions.

The visitors did manage to claw one back before the interval when Youngs crossed in the corner after a pick-and-go.

Carreras then claimed his second try on 36 minutes after receiving the ball from Connon 20 metres out – the 26-year-old duly added the extras.

And the wing wizard claimed a first-half hat-trick after a lung-busting breakaway 80 metres from the posts, earning his side a bonus-point.

The Tigers thought they had grabbed another try after a series of penalties – and the sin-binning of Greg Peterson – in added time when Charlie Clare went over at the fifth time of asking, but TMO ruled it out.

They rectified that within two minutes of the restart when Chessum found a way through on the right side, and Atkinson converted to reduce the arrears.

Connon slotted a 30-metre penalty home for the hosts on 46 minutes to give them a 19-point lead, before Blamire added another try 10 minutes later.

Tommy Reffell was sin-binned for Leicester in the 68th minute for head contact, but they did go over again through Gopperth after a quick tap.

Moroni then raced through the Tigers’ defence before Jansen ensured that the visitors would head home with something to show for their efforts despite suffering consecutive defeats on the road.

“I think the pleasing thing was our attitude from 1 to 23 from the start to the end,” said Walder. “We fought really well at key moments when the game was in the balance. I thought we were composed, but our attitude and our fight was absolutely bang on today.

“We played the game in the right areas, controlled the tempo that we wanted to play at, and our defence was pretty comfortable making decisions across the board.”

It was another difficult afternoon for Wigglesworth, who watched his side concede 40 on the road for the second consecutive week.

“We had discipline issues and then we didn’t get into good positions in defence,” explained Wigglesworth. “So you put those two things together and you’re going to concede points against a good team.

“We put ourselves under too much pressure. We’ll be making sure our discipline’s better than it has been over the last couple of weeks.

“I’m proud that we didn’t go away, we showed some fight to get back in, and got the reward of a point. But that’s only a small consolation on what is not a great day for us.”