It gave Tigers a losing bonus point from a game they had been trailing 14-0 at half-time. Toby Flood, against his former club, kicked the conversion to add to his earlier penalty.

Tigers went behind to Tane Tu’ipulotu’s only try of the first-half, the centre made the most of an overlap on the right wing to score next to the corner flag.

Tom May was off target with the conversion but the Newcastle fly-half added two penalties and a drop goal from 45m to complete the first-half scoring.

Martin Corry returned from suspension to captain the side. England internationals Tom Croft, Harry Ellis and Toby Flood were named in the starting line-up alongside Martin Castrogiovanni and Geordan Murphy on their return from the Six Nations. Ayoola Erinle started his first Guinness Premiership game of the season in place of Dan Hipkiss, who picked up a knock in the win over Saracens.

An injury to former Tigers forward Adam Balding forced a reshuffled in the Newcastle pack. Mark Sorenson came into the second row, Tim Swinson moved to blindside flanker and captain Phil Dowson switched to No8. Matt Thompson replaced Rob Vickers at hooker. In the backs Hall Charlton started at scrum-half while John Rudd returned from suspension on the left wing.

It was a game of cat and mouse in the early stages with both sides looking to kick for territory.

The game was 13 minutes old before it saw its first scoring opportunity, and the home side took advantage to go ahead. Newcastle stretched the Tigers defence, first on the right and then down the middle, before the ball was passed to the right again for centre Tane Tu’ipulotu to score in the corner. The try went unconverted with Tom May’s kick missing to the left.

Heavy rain began to fall moments later making the ball slippery and, as a result, both sides looked to test the opposition back three with the high ball.

Tigers coped with the aerial bombardment well but it was an offence at a ruck 40m out that gave Newcastle the chance to extend their lead on 30 minutes. May’s kick landed on the crossbar before bouncing over to extend the home side’s lead to 8-0.

May extended that lead with a drop goal from just inside his own half three minutes later. Dowson’s break in midfield forced Tigers back into their own half and the ball was moved through two more phases to give May the platform to line up his kick from 45m.

He was on target with two minutes of the half remaining after Tigers were penalised at a ruck on the edge of their 22. His successful penalty gave Newcastle a 14-0 half-time lead.

The game was 50 minutes old when Tigers were given their first chance to put points on the board and England international Flood made no mistake with his penalty from the left to reduce the Newcastle lead to 14-3.

Tigers were then forced to defend when Tu’ipulotu threatened down the left. Erinle pulled him down before Flood completed the clearing up by forcing John Rudd into touch ten metres from the Tigers line.

Tigers missed touch with the clearance from the resulting line-out and Newcastle almost took advantage. However, brilliant defence from Tigers saw Geordan Murphy hold up Jamie Noon to prevent the Newcastle centre scoring on the right.

It signalled a period of possession for Tigers and they took play deep into the Falcons half with a quickly-taken tap penalty by replacement scrum-half Youngs. Erinle followed it up and offloaded to Ben Woods, but the flanker knocked on as he was tackled by Dowson 5m out.

But there was still time for a dramatic finish. Falcons ran down the clock by keeping the ball in their forwards but Hemingway was alive to Young as the replacement scrum-half attempted to kick to touch to end the game. Heimngway, on as a substitute for Louis Deacon, charged down his clearance and Youngs followed up to reach the loose ball and score to the right of the posts. Flood converted with the last kick of the game.