Despite an early dominance, the Knights ended their pre-season in defeat on Saturday.

Newcastle Falcons came away with 47-27 victory, but were made to work for it, especially in the first half.

The Knights started the game in fine fashion scoring a try after just two minutes. Lloyd Hayes was on the end of a quick offload from Morgan Eames in the Falcons 22, after Steve McColl had superbly intercepted a pass.

The early dominance continued with Eames this time scoring, as the flanker picked up the ball from a maul, after McColl had again used his pace and ran deep into the visitors’ half.

At 14-0 up with two successful conversions from Charlie Foley, the Knights were soon given a reminder of the battle they had on their hands to win the game. The Premiership side soon woke up and took the initiative for the rest of the half.

Two tries within five minutes, both converted by Brett Connon, swung the balance of play in the visitors favour with the half way mark of the first half gone to make the score line 14-14.

Newcastle continued to attack and gained confidence in their play as Ben Stevenson broke the Knights defence, before offloading to Jamie Blamire to dot down and give the visitors the lead.

However, the north east side were given a reminder it would not be all plain sailing. Eames, who scored a brace of tries last week, scored his second of the afternoon. A well worked line out deep in the Falcons half was won by former Falcon Nick Civetta, he dropped it to Eames, the flanker then powered over to make it all level at half time.

The second half began unfortunately not how the first ende for those in a Donny shirt. This time powerhouse Nemani Nagusa was on the end of a offload from Zach Kibirige, who broke the line with a quick turn of pace.

The Knights continued to attack and were camped outside the Falcons’ 22, when a move broke down; allowing Stevenson to race through and score. Connon again converted to give a 19-33 lead to those in green shirts.

Stevenson, who came to life in the second half, scored his second try of the afternoon, while Nagusa again showed his strength when he grounded the ball with another try 10 minutes later to extend the visitors lead to 19-40, after Connon added the extras twice.

Former Sale Sharks and Worcester Warriors winger Tom Arscott then added to the score line with only a minute to play. However, it was 18 year-old Seth Adams that gave the Knights fans the last roar, when he slide over in the dying embers to score, then convert and allow the Knights some positives heading into the Championship league opener next week at Cornish Pirates.

Match Statistics

Knights XV: 15. C.Cowell 14. P. Jarvis 13. L.Hayes 12. J.Matavesi 11. S.McColl 10. C.Foley 9. R.Dawson 1. R.List 2. B.Hunter 3. C.Quigley 4. M.Challinor 5. N.Civetta 6. M.Eames 7. M.Hills 8. W.Ryan

Replacements: H.Seniloli, T.James, S.Adams, K.Morath, E.Creed, M.Clark, D.Flockhart, T.Lewis, C.Langdon (dual reg), R.Hislop, T.Williams, J.Sproston, T.Hicks, S.Jones, T.Calladine, R.Kay(trialist)

Tries: Eames 2, Hayes, Adams   Conversions: Foley 2, Adams

Newcastle Falcons XV: 15. Arscott 14. Wacokecoke 13. Stevenson 12. Waldouck 11. Kibirige 10. Connon 9. Elliott 1. Davison 2. Blamire 3. Williams 4. Montgomery 5. Graham 6. Marshall 7. Collett 8. Nagusa

Replacements: Dawson (2^nd half), Matavesi (2^nd half), Clarke, Marshall, Pascoe, Wilson

Tries : Tries: Zach Kibirige, Connor Collett, Jamie Blamire, Nemani Nagusa, Ben Stevenson 2, Tom Arscott. Conversions: Brett Connon 6.

Referee: John Meridith Attendance: 745