Losing five tries to three on the night, their engine room endeavour was undone by defensive errors as Gloucester wings Iain Balshaw and James Simpson-Daniel shared five tries between them – Balshaw running in a classy hat-trick while Simpson-Daniel pounced for a late brace.

It was scant reward for a Newcastle side which dominated the forward exchanges, claiming the front foot in the scrum and line out as well as gaining yards round the fringes. But with the hosts maximising their opportunities with ball in wide spaces it was the Cherry and Whites who took the full compliment of Guinness Premiership points on offer.

To compound Newcastle's woes they also lost in-form fly half Jonny Wilkinson to a first-half knee injury, by which stage they were 8-3 down as a booming Wilkinson penalty from inside his own half was cancelled out by opposite number Olly Barkley and the first of Balshaw's three tries in the right corner.

The Falcons certainly gave as good as they got in the tight, with back row trio Adam Balding, Ed Williamson and Phil Dowson all making yards with ball in hand as well as stealing line out possession and getting the nudge at scrum time.

But with scoring chances presenting themselves in the first half the ruthless finishing streak was lacking as first Ollie Phillips in the right corner and then second Tim Visser on the opposite side just could not get across the whitewash.

Even in Wilkinson's injury-enforced absence there was no shortage of chances as 18-year-old Rory Clegg's first touch of the ball produced a superb floated pass for England's Jamie Noon to break the defensive line.

Scrum half Hall Charlton, too, threatened with his fringe running game to suck in the numbers, but they had to resort to the boot of Clegg with a 31st minute penalty to get to within two points.

A second for Balshaw three minutes before the break nudged Gloucester further ahead as he exploited a three-on-two down the right hand side, but with the clock already past zero seconds of first half play the Falcons' adventure cost them dear as they failed to clear and then conceded the penalty from which Barkley gave the hosts a 16-6 interval lead.

That said, Newcastle started the second half with vigour as hooker Matt Thompson and replacement Russell Winter concocted a cheeky one-two at the front of a line out on the 22 for Thompson to race down the short side and score in the left corner.

Clegg's touchline conversion floated narrowly wide of the posts as Newcastle got to within five points, and even a Barkley penalty could not extinguish the Falcons' flame as Tom May chipped and chased for a sensational try in the right corner after fullback Steve Jones had defused a high bomb and countered with ball in hand.

Just three points down and with momentum on their side Newcastle looked in with a sniff on the hour mark, but the sin-binning of fullback Jones for offside at the ruck on his own 22 cost them an immediate three points and a further two tries during his ten-minute break.

Credit to the visitors, who almost scored with a ghostly show-and-go from Clegg, but it was to be the home side who dominated the closing stages with Balshaw completing his hat-trick in the right corner as the ball went quickly through the hands.

Now in the ascendancy out wide despite the Falcons still toiling to great effect in the forwards, Gloucester racked up the bonus point on 71 minutes as James Simpson-Daniel's arcing run at first receiver from a scrum on the 22 saw him safely in to the right corner.

And when he raced 50 metres down the opposite flank, again from scrum ball, it was game over.

Even with two minutes left on the clock there was plenty of fight left in a gutsy Newcastle side, as demonstrated by the quick tap penalty which saw skipper Dowson race through a gap to score, but with the remaining seconds ticking away they were to fall just one touch down short of a bonus point on a night of frustration.

Gloucester:

Tries: Balshaw 3, Simpson-Daniel 2
Cons: Walker
Pens: Barkley 4

Newcastle Falcons:

Tries: May, Thompson, Dowson
Cons: Clegg
Pens: Wilkinson, Clegg

Gloucester:

15 Olly Morgan
14 Iain Balshaw
13 Matthew Watkins (Willie Walker, 40)
12 Mike Tindall (captain)
11 James Simpson-Daniel
10 Olly Barkley (Mark Foster, 75)
9 Gareth Cooper (Rory Lawson, 52)

1 Nick Wood (Dave Young, 77)
2 Scott Lawson (Olivier Azam, 52)
3 Alasdair Dickinson
4 Marco Bortolami
5 Alex Brown
6 Peter Buxton (Apo Satala, 75)
7 Alasdair Strokosch
8 Luke Narraway (Andy Hazell, 37)

Newcastle Falcons:

15 Steve Jones
14 Ollie Phillips
13 Jamie Noon
12 Tom May
11 Tim Visser (Spencer Davey, 66)
10 Jonny Wilkinson (Rory Clegg, 25)
9 Hall Charlton (Micky Young, 72)

1 Micky Ward (Joe McDonnell, 64)
2 Matt Thompson (Andy Long, 52)
3 Carl Hayman
4 Andy Perry (Tim Swinson, 52)
5 Mark Sorenson
6 Adam Balding (Russell Winter, 37)
7 Ed Williamson
8 Phil Dowson (captain)

Referee: David Rose
Attendance: 12,861