ALEX TAIT bagged a hat-trick on his full Falcons debut to upstage older brother Mathew in Spain last night. While Tait Senior only crossed for one try, 19-year-old Alex blitzed the Cetransa El Salvador defence with his mix of pace and strength. The Tait brothers were not the only ones to get on the scoresheet though, as the Falcons clocked up a cricket score on their European Challenge Cup opener. Ollie Phillips grabbed a hat-trick of his own as Newcastle ran in 11 tries, nabbing the winning bonus point well before half-time. The Spanish champions might have had six home internationals and a smattering of Argentinians, but the Falcons’ Premiership class was always too much for them to bear. Phillips scampered in for two first-half tries to open things up, and the aggressive Jon Golding added a third before Alex Tait made his first mark. Wrapping up the bonus point with little more than half an hour on the clock, this was hardly a performance to remember – but try telling that to anyone connected with Cetransa. The boisterous Pepe Rojo crowd went wild when South African scrum-half Shaan Stevens capitalised on a Tom May error to dot down in the corner. But their elation was short-lived, as Tait senior showed his class with a smooth line break to race to the line. Shortly afterwards Alex indulged in some one-upmanship, striding home from a clever inside ball as the Spaniards’ resistance wavered. Flyer Phillips took his tally to six in four starts this season as Newcastle started strongly. Before the break he tip-toed into the corner to start the glut, then he raced onto a miss-pass from the returning Jamie Noon to ghost home. His second try was almost a carbon copy of his effort down at Gloucester – his wide line bisecting the defence. Then Jon Golding got in on the act – the prop was fighting a chest illness all weekend, but barnstormed over the line after a series of raids early on. A Redgart Van Eyk penalty stemmed the one-way traffic, but not for long, as Alex Tait marked his full debut with a try. That was the way it stayed until the break, as Newcastle struggled to convert their authority into points. Blustering through in the sunshine, they failed to turn several promising moves into tries, but were already in possession of the all-important bonus point at the turnaround. With the sun sinking into the northern Spanish evening, the Falcons got themselves together after the restart. Brent Wilson, Tim Visser, Mathew Tait and Alex Tait added to the cricket score – but Newcastle spent most of the early evening in neutral. Alex Tait then wrapped up his hat-trick, before Lee Dickson romped home – and after that Phillips sealed his own treble, to grab the last word. Despite being as messy as they were classy, the Falcons won this tie with plenty to spare. A quick turnaround for Brive at Kingston Park means John Fletcher will be happy to get the bodies back in one piece, apart from poor Jamie Noon. The England centre slumped off in the first half with an obvious concussion, and will no doubt be climbing the walls after only just returning from knee trouble. Not perfect, but a job well done – and now Newcastle have two Taits to boast about. | 
