Newcastle Falcons 33 Sale Sharks 12

With speculation linking either Toby Flood or Charlie Hodgson with a call to replace the injured Jamie Noon in Nantes, the Newcastle man was the clear winner in yesterday's Premiership clash at Kingston Park.

Man of the match Flood was involved in everything, laying on two of his side's four tries, and successful with two penalties, two conversions and a drop goal. Falcons Director of Rugby John Fletcher was in no doubt, saying: ''On today's performance Toby played better than Charlie,'' but added: ''In the windy conditions anyone could have struggled.''

The wind was undoubtedly the deciding factor in the game and as Fletcher put it: ''We decided not to move it around because of the weather and we managed the wind a lot better than them.''

Two early penalties from Flood put the Falcons in the driving seat and it was to everyone's surprise when Steve Hanley cut loose from halfway to send in Ben Foden for a Sale score.

Newcastle kept up the pressure and just before the interval the right boot of Flood put Tom May in to increase the lead.

While it might have appeared to have been a miscue, the fly-half put the record straight afterwards saying: ''I heard the call from Tom and looked left to put them off and hit it with the outside of my boot to the corner.''

Against the wind in the second period the boot struck once more, this time an up and under landing perfectly for Ollie Phillips to send in Mark Mayerhofler.

Sale responded when Lee Thomas found a gap to shrug off a couple of defenders, Hodgson converting, but lost their way when replacement number eight Chris Jones was yellow carded.

The Newcastle pack drove over for James Grindal to score then Phillips jinked through unmolested for a fourth try.

Sale rallied in the closing stages but the damage was done and inevitably it was Flood who rubbed it in with a sweetly struck drop goal four minutes from time.

Newcastle peppered the Sale 22 with delicate chips to touch in the opening minutes and were rewarded when the visitors knocked on from a line-out, and Flood put over the penalty for failure to release at the subsequent ruck.

With a considerable wind advantage the Falcons continued with the tactic, and when Sale repeated the offence Flood again took advantage to make it 6-0 after 11 minutes.

It took Sale almost 20 minutes to get over the halfway line but they made it count when after some probing in each direction, Hanley cut loose down the left to draw in the defender and send in Foden for a try, although Hodgson was off target with the conversion attempt.

Sale were then penned in their own half until the break, and needed some resolute defence to keep out the home backs. Flood was off-target with two more penalty attempts as the Falcons kept up the pressure and there were just two minutes remaining when the breakthrough was finally achieved.

Flood's kick allowed Mayto race through to beat Hanley to the touch for an unconverted try and at the interval the Falcons led 11-5.

Newcastle ran in a second try five minutes into the new half and again the boot of Flood was involved. The fly-half lofted an up-and-under which was secured in great style by Phillips, who released Mayerhofler to score under the posts with Flood adding the conversion.

With three-quarter time approaching Sale hit back in a rare attack. They appeared to be harmlessly moving it along the line when Lee Thomas suddenly found a gap and shrugged off two defenders to score under the posts, Hodgson converting to make it 18-12.

Jones was then sin-binned and in his absence the Newcastle pack drove over for Grindal to touch down with Flood again on the mark.

Two minutes later some slick handling in the Sale 22 saw Phillips, the Newcastle winger, jink through for a fourth and bonus point-gaining try and Flood's conversion gave the home side a 30-12 lead with time running out.

The Falcons continued to press into the closing stages and Flood put the seal on a fine individual performance with a well-taken drop goal to make it a resounding 33-12 victory.