Cavaliers brought the curtain down on their Premiership Rugby Shield campaign by securing two bonus points from this high-scoring encounter at Kingston Park.
Cavaliers’ hopes of progressing to the semi-finals had effectively been extinguished by the defeat against Wasps A two weeks ago but they gave a strong Falcons side, who had already topped the Northern Conference, an almighty fright.
Cavaliers played some scintillating rugby in the first half and eased into a 17-0 lead at the break with Alex Hearle, Wynand Olivier and Perry Humphreys crossing for brilliantly taken tries.
But Falcons hit back strongly in the second half and, having pulled level by three-quarter time, secured the try bonus point then victory in a frenetic finale.
Having spent a large part of the second half manning the barricades in defence, Cavaliers reasserted themselves in attack and late tries from the hard-working Matti Williams and Luke Baldwin ensured they made the long trip back to Sixways with some reward for their efforts.
It was all Cavaliers in the first half with Hearle conjuring his try from nothing. The left wing gathered a box kick near halfway and set off on a powerful mazy run which took him to the line.
An interception from Scott van Breda then unsettled Falcons and superb support play saw Olivier, the World Cup-winning former South Africa centre, power over for his third try in as many Cavaliers matches.
The third try followed just before the break when Cavaliers attacked from a scrum and right wing Humphreys cut the perfect angle to cross unopposed.
But Cavaliers lost van Breda, who converted Olivier’s try, with an arm injury late in the first half and they were unable to pick up where they had left off when the second half began.
A burst of two tries in as many minutes, the first from replacement hooker Jamie Blamire and the second from wing Zach Kibirige and a conversion from Tim Swiel pulled Falcons to within five points.
Left wing Adam Radwan crossed on the overlap to equalise and Falcons went ahead ten minutes from time when Kibirige went over for his second and Swiel again converted.
But Cavaliers were not finished and a sustained flowing attack saw Williams cross in the left corner which reduced Falcons’ lead to just two points.
Cavaliers threw everything into attack and almost scored again when replacement wing Mason Tonks narrowly failed to get over.
But a Billy Whizz try from Radwan and Swiel’s conversion proved decisive although Baldwin, back from a month on loan at Harlequins, marked his first Cavaliers appearance in four months with an neatly taken try in injury time.
Cavaliers finished third in the Northern Conference behind Newcastle and Northampton Wanderers.
Cavaliers | 15 Scott van Breda (Heward 39), 14 Perry Humphreys (Tonks 41), 13 Wynand Olivier, 12 Will Butler (C), 11 Alex Hearle (Baldwin 52), 10 Gareth Simpson, 9 Jonny Arr, 1 Jack Cosgrove (Reid 60), 2 Isaac Miller (Phillips-Taylor 79), 3 Farai Mudariki (Morris 61), 4 Tom Dodd (Thomas-Hall 73), 5 Pierce Phillips, 6 Carl Kirwan, 7 Matti Williams (Miller 76), 8 Matt Cox.
Replacements | 16 Llewellyn Phillips-Taylor (Scarlets Academy), 17 Alex Reid (Tonbridge Juddians), 18 Joe Morris, 19 William Thomas-Hall (Hull), 20 Sam Miller (Oxford University), 21 Luke Baldwin, 22, Noah Heward, 23 Mason Tonks.
Timeline
15m | Hearle try 0-5
22m | Olivier try 0-10
23m | van Breda con 0-12
36m | Humphreys try 0-17
45m | Blamire try 5-17
48m | Kibirige 10-17
49m | Swiel con 12-17
62m | Radwan try 17-17
73m | Kibirige try 22-17
74m | Swiel con 24-17
75m | Williams try 24-22
78m | Radwan try 29-22
79m | Swiel con 31-22
80m | Baldwin try 31-27