Fiji Airways Flying Fijians and Newcastle Falcons centre Vereniki Goneva scored the try that secured their bonus point win against Bath. Photo: Zimbio
Fijian duo Vereniki Goneva and Josh Matavesi starred for Newcastle Falcons as they dumped Bath 29-12 in a bonus-point win at Kingston Park on Friday night.
Newcastle were dominant for large periods especially during the opening half and they held a comfortable 21-0 lead at the interval after converted tries from Sinoti Sinoti, Toby Flood and Kyle Cooper, which were all converted by Flood.
According to Planet Rugby, Sinoti dotted down as early as the fifth minute after Matavesi did the bulk of the groundwork with a superb line break in the build-up. Ten minutes later, the home side added their second try when Flood slipped out of a tackle before crossing the whitewash.
The rest of the half was more subdued although the Falcons finished stronger and four minutes before half-time, Cooper barged over from close quarters after the hosts launched a driving maul deep inside Bath’s half.
To their credit, Bath came out swinging after the break and six minutes into the half Cooper Vuna went over in the left-hand corner for their opening try which was converted by Freddie Burns.
That did not deter Newcastle though and five minutes later, Goneva crossed for their bonus-point try after gathering a perfectly-weighted pass from Nili Latu.
Flood added a penalty in the 76th minute before Anthony Perenise scored a consolation try for the visitors in the game’s closing stages.
MATAWALU HITS BACK
Nippy Fiji Airways Flying Fijians halfback Nikola Matawalu scored a try for Glasgow Warriors as they walloped Cheetahs 37-23 on Friday night.
But Cheetahs within 10 minutes had the first try on the board after stealing possession five metres from their line. Four orange shirts piled forward and Malcolm Jaer sprinted through for the early advantage.
Matawalu hit back with a sprint of his own though. He was found by Adam Hastings and threw the defender a dummy to break through.
Glasgow took the lead for the first time soon after, Ruaridh Jackson with a wonderful solo effort as he chipped ahead and beat the backline to go through. A penalty from each 10 saw Warriors take a 15-10 lead into the second half.
Meanwhile, Olympian and former Fiji Airways Fijian 7s forward Vili Mata played well for Edinburgh as they pipped Ulster 17-16 at Kingspan Stadium.
Edited by Grace Narayan
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