Leicester Tigers Dominate with 47-3 Victory over Newcastle Falcons in Premiership Showdown

Tommy Reffell achieved a hat-trick during Leicester Tigers’ victory over Newcastle, leaving the Falcons in a winless and bottom of the Premiership table.

During the first half, Reffell scored twice, and Matt Scott and Jasper Wiese also scored, earning the Tigers a bonus point as they led 26-3 at halftime.

Reffell, a Wales flanker, completed his treble after the break as Tigers secured a third successive win.

Ollie Hassell-Collins and Mike Brown wrapped up the victory with late tries.

The win lifted Dan McKellar’s Tigers to seventh in the table, while Newcastle’s heaviest league defeat of the season leaves them eight points adrift at the foot of the table.

Exeter needed a second-half fightback to overcome the lowly Falcons a week earlier, and a bright start by the visitors had them leading after 12 minutes.

But a penalty from Brett Connon, who came in as a late replacement for Louie Johnson, was all they had to show for their relentless early efforts.

And their lead lasted just three minutes, as Reffell crashed over from a maul for the game’s first try.

Reffell went over again out wide after Scott punched through a gap and dived over for Tigers’ second try on the half-hour mark.

Wiese collected a loose ball from an attempted pick-and-go near the line to complete the first-half dominance with the five-pointer that earned Tigers just their second try-scoring bonus point of the season.

It was from another maul that Reffell added his third and Tigers’ fifth try of the day after the interval.

Newcastle were down a man, following Pedro Rubiolo’s sin-binning for a high tackle, when Hassell-Collins went over, but even with a full complement they could not deny Brown a last-gasp score on a miserable day for the side from the North East.

Leicester Tigers: Brown; Steward, Scott, Kelly, Hassell-Collins; Pollard, Youngs; Van Wyk, Montoya (capt), Cole; Wells, Chessum, Liebenberg, Reffell, Wiese.

Replacements: Clare, Whitcombe, Hurd, Carter, Rogerson, Whiteley, Shillcock, Kata.

Newcastle Falcons: Obatoyinbo; Radwan, Penny, Moroni, Brown; Connon, Elliott; Brocklebank, Blamire, Bello; Hawkins, De Chaves, Rubiolo, Cross, Chick (capt).

Replacements: Byrne, Brantingham, McCallum, Cardall, Lockwood, Stuart, Jennings, Spencer.

Sin-bin: Rubiolo (61)

Referee: Sara Cox.