Wonder of Wilkinson as Falcons progress

Six days ahead of the Six Nations opener at Cardiff, the England No 10 showed why Newcastle boss Rob Andrew rates him the best fly half in the world.

His superb line kicking was a feature of the first half, as was the vision and accuracy of his passing, and the only blot was that he missed two conversions from the right touchline.

Newcastle will be joined by Harlequins, their Tetley's Bitter Cup final opponents, who won in Brive yesterday, and the Frenchmen of Narbonne and Agen in the semi-final draw in Dublin on Wednesday, February 7.

Semi-final ties will be played on a neutral ground in the country of the team drawn out first, and Andrew is hoping to avoid Agen, Newcastle's semi-final conquerors three years ago.

''They're the side to avoid,'' he said. ''Agen away would without doubt be the most difficult tie, but the saving grace is that it wouldn't be at their ground.''

The semi-finals are on the weekend of April 21 and the final is not until May 20, after the Premiership play-offs.

In front of a sparse crowd of 2,269, there was never any doubt that Newcastle were going to beat the village club from South West France, especially when the visitors were reduced to 14 men after 18 minutes.

Flanker Phillipe Alaqui was sent off for punching Gary Armstrong in full view of referee Clayton Thomas.

It happened at a ruck under the posts, allowing Wilkinson to kick the second of his three penalties to make it 11-0.

The Falcons made a hash of collecting the restart and Sebastien Loubsens skipped through some weak tackling to score, offering brief hope that the visitors would not subside meekly.

They deserved credit for their enterprising approach, but with their two Fijians on World Cup Sevens duty in Argentina, the elusive Loubsens provided the only real French flair.

Stephane Prosper's second penalty just after half-time kept them in the hunt at 23-11, but Newcastle hit them with three converted tries in the next 15 minutes.

With 20 minutes left they had all their replacements on, including Gareth Maclure for Wilkinson, with David Walder switching to fly half and Liam Botham to full back.

As invariably happens in such circumstances, the Falcons lost their zip, everything went flat and the French scored two tries in the left corner.

But Newcastle came back with Tom May bursting through the middle to bring up the half-century.

Then the visitors dropped the ball as they tried to run a penalty from their own half and Maclure had a clear 30-metre run to the posts, Walder's second conversion completing the scoring with the last kick of the match.

The total of 11 tries meant there was plenty of entertainment, but it was not a great contest, although there was plenty to admire in the Falcons' first half performance.

There were all-action displays from blind side flanker Rob Devonshire and Man of the Match Doddie Weir, but Wilkinson was the star of the first half.

He kicked an early penalty, then powerful pick-and-drives from props Micky Ward and Marius Hurter allowed Wilkinson to send Botham over.

Despite the open play, Botham was hardly involved thereafter, especially in comparison with the lively Inga Tuigamala.

Wilkinson's perfect pass sent Jamie Noon through a gap and when the centre was stopped five metres short Alaqui threw his punch.

Newcastle were quick to hit back after Loubens' try, Stuart Grimes winning a line-out and almost being driven over before Wilkinson's half break created the space for Noon to touch down.

Just before half-time Wilkinson floated out a superb pass for Walder to score on the right wing.

Penalties were exchanged after the interval then Hurter was driven over from a line-out, Wilkinson passed off the ground for Armstrong to race over, then Armstrong seized on a loose ball in his own 22 and raced 40 metres before putting Walder clear for his second try.

Wilkinson added his fourth conversion before retiring, having shown that his game is in full working order for the Six Nations Championship