Worcester Director of Rugby John Brain praised the character of his Warriors after they produced a staggering fightback to claim a priceless victory amid late drama at Sixways.
Warriors battled back from 15 points adrift at half-time to edge ahead 23-21 with just three minutes left before Newcastle were awarded a last-gasp penalty to win the match.
But Falcons fly-half Loki Crichton missed from in front of the posts with the game’s final kick to hand Worcester their third successive league win.
And it was a result that saw Warriors climb off the bottom for the first time since the opening weeks of the season.
“It was a bizarre game in many ways, I’m just very pleased that our players had the character to come back from what seemed to be in an irretrievable position at half-time,” said Brain.
“We defended very poorly in the first half against a very good attacking team and we thoroughly deserved to be behind at half-time.
“We knew we had to shore up the defence and we got back into the game, we kept our discipline in the second period and it was a very good fightback.
“We had to put the ball in behind them in the second half and force short range scrums and lineouts to exert pressure, that is what we did and the forwards did well to maul over with three tries.
“Shane Drahm missed an opportunity to put them more than a penalty behind and then there was the incident at the end.
“It happened to us up there with a late score so I suppose it is a bit of payback for that, but I know how Newcastle coach John Fletcher feels.”
Newcastle, despite being without England quarter Toby Flood, Mathew Tait, Jamie Noon and Jonny Wilkinson, made a flying start with flanker Ben Woods grabbing a brace of tries and hooker Matt Thompson also going over, all of which were converted by Crichton.
And Brain admitted it was the Falcons first try of the game, that came straight from a restart after three minutes, that hit his team hardest.
“To take the first try in the manner that we did was a real blow, they kick a restart and we don’t even touch the ball,” said Brain. “Our players were reeling for 15 minutes after that, we never really recovered.”
Worcester looked down and out but Brain’s substitutions worked wonderfully as hooker Aleki Lutui, on for Chris Fortey, crossed twice before late replacement Gavin Quinnell powered over just before the end.
“The substitutions worked well, Darren Morris made a good impact when he came on, Richard Blaze was good, Quinnell scored one try and gave away the last kick penalty, but he will always score tries for you,” said Brain.
Full-back Shane Drahm kicked two penalties in the game, but it was undoubtedly Crichton’s miss that proved the major talking point.
“We’ve done our bit to put pressure on the teams around us,” added Brain. “We have won three in a row and are still very much in the hunt.”