Irish get the better of Falcons

Irish ran in 13-8 winners, a result that means they are eighth place in the Guinness Premiership, one place and point behind fellow Heineken Cup semi-finalists Saracens,

"We're satisfied with the win but not the performance," said Irish Director of Rugby Brian Smith.

"It's a long way up to Newcastle and long way down from the Heineken Cup quarter-final against Perpignan. We don't have a big squad and we're having to ask people to soldier on and front up.

"We're delighted with the way we're going in the Heineken Cup but we have ambitions in the Premiership to finish in the top six so today was a missed opportunity for us."

A Peter Hewat penalty in the sixth minute and Declan Danaher's 25th-minute try was all Irish had to show for dominating the early possession.

Hewat missed a good penalty chance just before the interval but Irish went further in front after 43 minutes.

Newcastle failed to secure the ball from the restart and Shane Geraghty made the Falcons pay with a long pass that found Richard Thorpe and he put Danaher in at the corner for his second try.

And it wasn't until the 48th minute of the match before Jonny Wilkinson slotted his side's first points.

That proved to be Wilkinson's final significant he eventually left the field with 12 minutes to play after a heavy tackle in midfield left him with an injured neck.

Jonny got a bang on the head and felt a bit of a stinger down one arm," said Falcons coach Steve Bates. "He seemed fine at the end of the game, but he was a little bit woozy and the doctor has been having a look at him and we think he'll be fine."

Meanwhile Saracens and Munster both lost in their domestic leagues. Sarries went down 39-15 to leaders Gloucester while Munster fell 21-12 to Magners League front runners Leinster