And on a day of drama there was yet more theatre when Flood found himself penalised on his own try line for kicking the ball dead to end the game – referee Sean Davey believing the 21-year-old to have passed the ball over the dead ball line.
Over 7,500 gasped in amazement as Davey’s arm went out for the penalty, before sanity prevailed and the near side touch judge informed the man in the middle that Flood had in fact kicked and not thrown the ball out. Cue scenes of mayhem as Kingston Park went pottyfollowing Newcastle’s fourth consecutive home win.
A high-scoring see-saw match belied a nip-and-tuck first half as Newcastle camped themselves in Leicester territory, the front row of Joe McDonnell, Matt Thompson and Micky Ward excelling against their much-heralded opponents with the nudge in the scrum.
Tom May and James Grindal pinned Tigers back in their 22 with canny tactical kicks, while Ben Woods and Mark Mayerhofler both nearly claimed early tries.
Flood pushed a penalty from right of the posts wide, while Geoff Parling leapt to claim a crucial line out steal from Leicester ball on his own try line.
It was Leicester, however who snatched the lead against the run of play as the white-clad visitors saw fly half Andy Goode strike a penalty from in front on the 22, and on 25 minutes he went one better as he pounced on loose scrum ball to claim an opportunist try in the left corner.
He converted his own try from wide out, and with both fly halves slotting a further two penalties before the break Leicester went in to the changing rooms 16-6 to the good.
The second half saw the Tigers show the depth in their squad as they rolled on the illustrious names from the bench, but the never-say-die Falcons were not giving up as Leicester were reduced to 14 men with the sin-binning of lock James Hamilton.
The hosts profited almost immediately, Flood’s punt setting up the line out from which he was to score their first try, shimmying and beating two men at first receiver with an explosive step after a good rolling maul platform.
He added the extras to claw Leicester within range at three points down, but with Newcastle openside Ben Woods sin-binned the Tigers extended the lead back to six via an elementary Goode penalty.
The men from the East Midlands then looked to have put sufficient distance between the sides as winger Leon Lloyd played a good advantage to score a pick-and-drive try from five metres, Goode’s conversion sending them 13 points ahead.
This Falcons side is made of stern stuff, however, and straightaway they hit back as Loki Crichton and Lee Dickson entered the fray to energise proceedings.
In a decisive nine-minute spell left wing John Rudd claimed two vital tries to get to within a point, Mathew Tait and Flood’s runs down the right hand side seeing the ball recycled for May to lob a telling miss pass to Rudd, who blasted a path to the line.
Flood’s conversion attempt flew wide, but from an astute left-footed Crichton punt another try was to follow, the Samoan floating a teaser 50 metres to the Leicester line. Fullback Johne Murphy seemed to have the situation under control despite the pounding footsteps of Rudd behind him, but the Irishman’s botched attempt to ground the ball allowed Rudd to dive and get an outstretched finger tip to score.
Flood’s conversion drew Newcastle to within a point as 11 minutes remained on the clock, the Kingston Park crowd spurring the hosts on in a frantic finale.
Woods hacked ahead, just falling short, but Newcastle grabbed the lead in spectacular fashion as Flood nailed a touchline penalty from the right hand side with what looked like being the telling score.
Not so, said Leicester, as Sam Vesty held his nerve with two minutes left to give his side an apparently insurmountable lead.
But Flood had other ideas. Awarded a penalty just inside the visiting half and near to the right touch line, there was not a second’s hesitation as the England man signalled to the posts. Straight and true, his strike bisected the uprights with plenty to spare, the home fans exploding in a sea of noise.
A relieved Kingston Park greeted the final whistle with a rousing rendition of the Blaydon Races following Flood kicking the ball dead, notwithstanding the brief panic as referee Davey wrongly awarded a penalty for throwing the ball out.
A fourth home win in a row and seven from their last eight at Kingston Park was the end result, with no time to be wasted before their next outing in the north-east this Friday as French outfit Brive are the visitors.
Newcastle Falcons:
Tries: Rudd 2, Flood
Cons: Flood 2
Pens: Flood 4
Leicester Tigers:
Tries: Goode, Lloyd
Cons: Goode 2
Pens: Goode 4, Vesty
Newcastle Falcons:
15 Anthony Elliott (Loki Crichton, 60)
14 Tom May
13 Mathew Tait
12 Mark Mayerhofler
11 John Rudd
10 Toby Flood
9 James Grindal (Lee Dickson, 60)
1 Joe McDonnell (captain)
2 Matt Thompson
3 Micky Ward
4 Mark Sorenson
5 Jason Oakes
6 Geoff Parling (Brent Wilson, 70)
7 Ben Woods
8 Russell Winter
Leicester Tigers:
15 Johne Murphy (Alesana Tuilagi, 70)
14 Leon Lloyd
13 Ollie Smith
12 Sam Vesty
11 Seru Rabeni (Daryl Gibson, 47)
10 Andy Goode (Scott Bemand, 70)
9 Harry Ellis
1 Alex Moreno (Julian White, 47)
2 George Chuter
3 Martin Castrogiovanni
4 Leo Cullen
5 James Hamilton (Ben Kay, 56)
6 Brett Deacon (Shane Jennings, 70)
7 Lewis Moody
8 Martin Corry (captain)
Referee: Sean Davey
Attendance: 7,565
