Rob Baxter and his Exeter players were able to do something they had not done for a long time. For the first time since 7 October 2022, they could finally savour a Premiership away win, thus condemning their hosts to a seventh defeat this season and a 10th in succession dating back to March.
You had to sympathise for Alex Codling and his Falcons, who showed impressive spirit and no little skill to overturn Exeter’s early lead with two quickfire tries from the hooker Jamie Blamire and the outside-centre Matías Moroni.
Exeter, though, were not to be denied and second-half scores from Henry Slade and Josh Iosefa-Scott, adding to Immanuel Feyi-Waboso’s delightful opener, saw them home.
Having won all four Premiership home games this season, a first success on the road since beating Bristol 50-14 at Ashton Gate 414 days earlier – when Liz Truss was still prime minister – lifted them to third in the table.
Baxter is patiently writing a new chapter with a remodelled team and the director of rugby said: “The big thing we targeted was having control of the middle third of the field.
We actually did that very well and Newcastle didn’t get multiple entries into our 22. There was a minute of madness where they got a couple of offloads away and bang, that was their points for the game.
“Outside of that, we had almost as much control as we could have wanted in the middle third. That gave us lots of entries into their 22 and it harmed their entries into ours. That was the big thing for me.”
Newcastle had organised a pre-match flag display with Wor Flags, which routinely produces such spectacular displays across the city at St James’ Park. Fans were given black and white flags to wave and a huge banner inscribed with the words “Welcome to the true north” was held aloft at pitchside before kick-off.
It was an admirable attempt to rouse Codling’s players, who must have been impressed by the display as Sam Fender’s Hypersonic Missiles blared out over the public address system. It created a sense of occasion but might even have left them dazed as they seemed half asleep when Exeter scored inside the opening minute courtesy of Feyi-Waboso.
Collecting possession inside the right channel, the wing drove at the heart of the Newcastle defence, displaying formidable strength and speed to scythe through several players and leave Louie Johnson, a 20-year-old Cumbrian fly‑half in his first Premiership start, clutching at thin air as he sauntered over the line.
The response from Newcastle, though, was emphatic as they hit back to lead 14-5 by the eighth minute. Their first try came when the blindside flanker Pedro Rubiolo broke and showed intelligence to send Blamire galloping over the line.
It was a forcible reminder of the hooker’s qualities in front of the England head coach, Steve Borthwick, and poured confidence into his team.
Newcastle scored again moments later when Iwan Stephens collected a deft offload from Guy Pepper, who caught the eye at openside flanker before departing through injury, and chipped forward for Moroni to touch down inside the left channel.
That capped a breathless opening but Slade cut the deficit to five points with a penalty shortly before the interval as Newcastle, who won 13 turnovers, kept their visitors at bay until the 63rd minute. The winger Ben Hammersley broke from midfield all too easily and sent Slade racing clear with a simple pass to cut Newcastle’s lead to a point.
Exeter plundered the winning score 11 minutes from time when Jacques Vermeulen was denied from close range before Iosefa-Scott squeezed over the line. Slade added the conversion and finally Exeter’s hoodoo was ended while for Newcastle the misery continues.
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They failed to register a point in the second half and Codling said: “A lot of things I said today, I’ve said after all seven games and that’s the really sad thing. The players and myself are pretty crestfallen and no one wants to give the supporters a win more than I do.
“But we’re just making basic errors that will kill you at any level, particularly in the Premiership. Fundamentally, that’s not acceptable.”
