The greasy surface played its part with several handling errors creeping in from both sides as they tried to move the ball around in vein. Connacht deservedly played their way back into the game courtesy of some decent kicks to the corners but the Falcons defence held strong and ultimately it was the sniping runs of Micky Young and a barnstorming break from captain Graeme Dunn that brought the Falcons back upfield, where good lineout play from Archibald set up a driving maul that resulted in a try for Rodenby.

Young also played his part in the second try, feeding Mark Thompson down the blindside just before half time.
 
In the second half the Falcons lineout continued to dominate with Moody and later Hall both stealing ball from the opposition. Some excellent carries by Phil Whitfield set up good field position for the Falcons but unfortunately they were unable to turn the pressure into points, squandering a couple of scoring chances.

As both teams rung the changes the game started to open up, but it was still the Falcons forwards who dominated the set piece and following a spell of aerial ping pong, the Falcons managed to re-ascertain their territorial dominance through some deft kicks in behind the defence.

Deep into injury time the Falcons got their third try. A scrum on the Connacht 22 allowed Dias to power through the midfield to score under the posts, James Reekie converting for a 17-0 final score.
 
Following the game, head coach Paul Gerrard sad he was particularly pleased with the way the players ground out the win in what was very difficult conditions.

"The forwards worked exceptionally hard to provide a solid platform for us today and deserve much of the credit for the victory,” he said.

“All 24 players who took the field made very positive contributions and it was a delight to see Grant Beasley back on the pitch after a year’s absence through injury.”
 
The young hopefuls from the North East and Cumbria will now go on to play Munster Under-18s on Thursday evening at St Sennan's in their final tour match.
 
Falcons U18 Team:
 
1Josh Terry (Mark Irving, 47)
2 Luke Fletcher (Sam Crosby, 35)
3 Andrew Rodenby (James Watson, 35)
4 Andrew Archibald
5 Iain Moody (Aaron Hall, 40)
6 Graeme Dunn (capt) (Will Welch, 33)
7 Phil Whitfield
8 Michael Ellery (Grant Beasley, 55)
9 Micky Young (Gavin Charlton, 50)
10 Tom Catterick (James Reekie, 67)
11 Mark Thompson
12 James Reekie (Will Dias, 45)
13 Fred Burdon (Rhys Thomas, 45)
14 Adam McKenzie
15 Matthew Lister
 
16 James Watson
17 Sam Crosby
18 Mark Irving
19 Aaron Hall
20 Grant Beasley
21 Will Welch
22 Gavin Charlton
23 Will Dias
24 Rhys Thomas
25 Will Stewart (injured)
26 Josh Fail-Brown (injured)