Newcastle Falcons vs Sale Sharks Match-Day Programme

30 YEARS AGO – APRIL
27, 1994
NEWCASTLE GOSFORTH 14-8
TYNEDALE
By the time Newcastle Gosforth and Tynedale contested the
Northumberland Senior Cup final in 1994 they had already been
relegated from Division One, and so they had nothing to lose
by selecting a strong side to compete with Tynedale, who had
usurped Northern as Newcastle Gosforth’s main local rivals.
Newcastle drew level with a fortuitous try three minutes into
the second half. Winger David Casado made a break, threw a
dummy and then a pass to lock John Fowler, who promptly
dropped it, although this went unnoticed by the referee and
both touch judges. Fowler picked up the ball and passed to
Graham Clark, who initially spurned a two-on-one overlap with
Casado before finally releasing the ball for the winger to score
in the corner.
The match degenerated into something of a war of attrition
thereafter, with the remaining scores coming from Johnson
penalties. The teams that day were as follows:
The two sides had drawn the previous year’s final at Tynedale
6-6, and the cup had been shared after the players of both
teams over-ruled the County Committee and refused
to participate in a replay.
The 1994 final was played at Kingston
Park, but it lacked the passion of
the previous year’s full-throttle
encounter. Tynedale took the
lead after eight minutes
when scrum-half Ian
Donkin exploited some
weak defending to set
up a try for lock Steve
Dunn. David Johnson,
back at the club after
his two-year sojourn
at McCracken Park,
narrowed the deficit
with a penalty, but
Tynedale’s five-point
lead was restored with
a penalty from Michael
Old, whose father Alan
had been Newcastle’s
head coach for most
of that season.
David Johnson
Newcastle Gosforth: M.Tetlow; T.Penn; I.Chandler; R.Wilkinson;
D.Casado; D.Johnson (capt); M.Dungait; M.Fraser; A.Hetherington;
P.VanZandvliet; J.Fowler; G.Archer; M.Corry; N.Frankland; G.Clark
Tynedale: D.Stephenson; S.Ferguson; G.Fleming;
M.Old; A.Laidlaw; C.Leslie; I.Donkin; C.Chadwick
(rep.C.Dixon 63); E.Parker; P.Winter; S.Dunn;
S.Turnbull; P.Leonard; W.Robson; G.Yates
(capt)
This would prove to be
the last time Newcastle
Gosforth club won
the cup that they had
dominated for over
30 years, winning it in
1960, 1962, 1963, 1964,
1966, 1967, 1968, 1969,
1971, 1972, 1973, 1974,
1975, 1976, 1977, 1978,
1979, 1981, 1982, 1983,
1985, 1986, 1987, 1990,
1991, 1993 (shared)
and 1994. The following
season, with the semifinal
on the Wednesday
before a crucial league
match with Saracens,
the club fielded a
weakened team and
lost 18-0 to Morpeth.
They did not contest
ALL OUR YESTERDAYS
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