Iain Balshaw, a Lions tourist in Australia seven years ago, scored a hat-trick of tries last night as Gloucester beat Newcastle at Kingsholm.
The England full back, who was also due to tour with the Lions in 2005 before injury ruled him out of the squad prior to departure, helped the Cherry and Whites jump to third place in the Guinness Premiership table thanks to a 39-23 win.
Balshaw was joined on the scoresheet by another outside back looking to push his claims for selection to South Africa in nine months time. Last season’s Premiership player of the year, James Simpson-Daniel, crossed for a brace of tries as Dean Ryan’s men bounced back from Friday night’s defeat at Sale.
England playmaker Olly Barkley added four penalties, with Willie Walker slotting a conversion, to send Newcastle home with nothing to show for a brave effort that had seen the Falcons trail by just three points with less than 20 minutes to play.
Teams
Gloucester: Olly Morgan; James Simpson-Daniel, Matthew Watkins, Mike Tindall (c), Iain Balshaw; Olly Barkley, Gareth Cooper; Nick Wood, Scott Lawson, Alasdair Dickinson, Marco Bortolami, Alex Brown, Peter Buxton, Alasdair Strokosch, Luke Narraway
Replacements: Olivier Azam, David Young, Apo Satala, Andy Hazell, Rory Lawson, Willie Walker, Mark Foster
Newcastle: Steve Jones, Tim Visser, Jamie Noon, Tom May, Ollie Phillips, Jonny Wilkinson, Hall Charlton, Micky Ward, Matt Thompson, Carl Hayman, Andy Perry, Mark Sorenson, Adam Balding, Ed Williamson, Phil Dowson (c)
Replacements: Andy Long, Joe McDonnell, Tim Swinson, Russell Winter, Micky Young, Spencer Davey, Rory Clegg
Scorers
Gloucester
Tries: Balshaw (3), Simpson-Daniel (2)
Conversion: Walker
Penalties: Barkley (4)
Newcastle
Tries: Thompson, May, Dowson
Conversion: Clegg
Penalties: Wilkinson, Clegg
