Newcastle 27-27 Gloucester

Newcastle centre Mathew Tait answered his critics as he scored one try and made another, but he could not stop Gloucester grabbing a draw.

The Falcons were 22-6 down at the break before Tait, recently axed by England after just one Six Nations outing, inspired his side to a 27-22 lead. A last-gasp touchdown from Luke Narraway pulled the visitors level. But Gloucester missed out on victory when Henry Paul fluffed the conversion and Seti Kiole was denied a late try. Newcastle had a couple of chances at the start of the second half with line-outs in the corner. But they failed to make them count until Joe Shaw found Dave Walder, who released Mark Mayerholfer in his own 22.

The former All Black broke clear and popped the ball up for Tait on halfway. He chipped ahead for Michael Stephenson to scorch through for the try, which Walder converted to give Newcastle a lifeline. They grabbed it with both hands, Mayerhofler breaking through and Tait making a brilliant early run to cut inside and race 30m to score. Walder converted to make it 22-20 before he was just wide with a 40m penalty in the 70th minute.

Mayerhofler then scythed through the middle for a try after Hall Charlton popped the ball up, and Walder's conversion took Newcastle 27-22 ahead. With three minutes of normal time left, Narraway was driven over for a try in the corner which levelled the scores at 27-27. Henry missed the conversion but Gloucester nearly won it when Kiole broke through only to be hauled down by Charlton and Tom May.

Walder; May, Tait, Mayerhofler, Stephenson; Wilkinson, Grindal; Isaacson, Long, Ward; Gross, Hamilton; McCarthy, Harris, Dowson.

Replacements: Peel, Wilson, Thompson, Parling, Sititi, Charlton, Shaw.

Goodridge; Garvey, Simpson-Daniel, Fanolua, Kiole; Paul, Gomarsall; Wood, Curnier, Powell; Eustace, Brown; Forrester, Buxton, Balding.

Replacements: Elloway, Sigley, Cornwell, Narraway, Page, Davies, Mauger.
