NEWCASTLE'S acting captain Matt Burke celebrated the signing of his new two-year contract by kicking seven penalties to take his side to a hard-earned win at Kingston Park last night.

The Australian full back made full amends for missing five penalties in Sunday's home defeat by Gloucester and ended any lingering fears of relegation.

With current internationals absent on Six Nations duty, there were few stars able to light up a bitterly cold night on which the Tigers scored the only try when they were 21-9 down.

Their own kicker, fly half Ian Humphreys, made a hash of two penalties either side of half-time, allowing the Falcons to forge ahead.

It was the third successive match in which Newcastle have not scored a try, but as they have won two of them there will be few complaints from the management.

On a night when polar bears would not have turned out, the 10,000 hardy souls who had bought tickets saw the scantily-clad dancing girls bravely provide their part of the pre-match entertainment.

Fireworks followed, but once the real action started hopes that free-flowing handling would provide the centrepiece of the extravaganza quickly proved misguided.

A penalty-strewn opening saw the Falcons 9-6 ahead after 14 minutes and there were many errors for which numbed hands could be only a partial excuse.

Newcastle had recalled Owen Finegan to lend experience to the back row in the absence of skipper Colin Charvis, but the match was barely a minute old when he positioned himself under a high ball but never looked like catching it.

Although he made some telling bursts and earned the sponsors' Man of the Match award, the Australian flanker also almost handed the Tigers a try when a clearance kick went straight to full back Sam Vestey.

Spotting space up the right, Vestey kicked straight ahead and followed up to touch down over the line, but a touch judge had spotted Burke being taken out off the ball.

The Falcons had also preferred Toby Flood to Dave Walder at fly half in the hope of unlocking the Tigers' defence, but while one extravagant dummy led to a half break, the ball rarely reached inside centre Mark Mayerhofler in the first half.

The visitors looked slightly more threatening, but Mathew Tait put in a couple of excellent tackles and they kept falling foul of referee Ashley Rowden.

When they were penalised at a line-out after three minutes Burke's 40-metre kick sailed straight between the posts.

Other than when the Falcons drove a maul 25 metres at a rate of knots, restarts were another disappointing feature of the first half and Leicester got in front of the kicker at the first one.

Then they killed the ball at a ruck after home hooker Andy Long had driven forward and Burke made it 6-0.

The restart was knocked on by the Falcons and when Vestey put in a clever grubber kick to the left corner centre Ollie Smith almost got to the line. But the Falcons fell offside under the posts and Humphreys made it 6-3.

More penalties were quickly exchanged before Humphreys missed one from halfway then Tigers' skipper Austin Healey took the next one quickly and scampered away in familiar style.

The Falcons were under pressure, but Flood put in a good clearance from behind his own line.

Then came the rare sight in rugby of a player running on to an opponent's kick ahead and opting to volley it back rather than try to catch it.

It proved an effective ploy by Newcastle winger Anthony Elliott, gaining 40 metres, only for half the distance to be lost when the Tigers set up a maul and drove it back to halfway.

After 26 minutes the Falcons were penalised for going in from the side and Humphreys levelled the scores, but it proved to be his last effective contribution.

Burke landed two more relatively easy penalties before half-time while Humphreys missed one with the last kick of the half.

Six minutes after the break he fluffed another one and when Leicester later won a scrum in a strong attacking position he attempted a chip through, with which he barley made contact.

Burke stretched the lead to 18-9 then flanker Ben Woods burst off the back of a line-out just outside the 22 and almost got to the line, where his opposite number Shane Jennings was yellow carded for killing the ball.

Instead of kicking the penalty, the Falcons opted for a five-metre scrum, which was re-set three times but they still failed to get over.

It might have proved costly as Burke pulled his next penalty attempt wide, but at this stage the Falcons were keeping a tight rein on their illustrious visitors.

When Tom May received a rare pass with some space to work in on the right wing he stepped neatly inside and made ground down the middle. The Tigers made a hash of trying to run out of defence and Newcastle kept the pressure on for May to drop a goal from a ruck under the posts.

At 21-9 the Tigers came roaring back and with ten minutes left Healey made a sniping diagonal run from a scrum and turned the ball back inside for replacement No 8 Henry Tuilagi to storm over.

Vestey's conversion had the gap down to five points, but Leicester kept on offending under pressure and after missing one penalty Burke was successful with the next to seal the victory.

Leeds last night beat Worcester 21-15 to maintain their recent good form at Headingley.

Result: Newcastle Falcons 24, Leicester Tigers 16.