Blamire treble sets up Bath showdown

Relentless effort was excellent - Waldouck

- LUKE JARMYN

NEWCASTLE'S departing talisman Jamie Blamire scored a hat-trick as Falcons secured a home semi-final against league leaders Bath on Friday night.

A dominant forward pack and an imperious first 40 minutes, in which they stopped Gloucester from scoring, proved decisive as Falcons produced a much more complete performance than fans have been used to seeing from the Premiership's basement side.

Newcastle's director of rugby Steve Diamond said: "We could have been much better out there, clearly, but cup rugby is just about winning.

"We've come a long way if we're talking about beating Gloucester to reach a cup semi-final and still not being 100 per cent happy.

"We had to go back to the basics of driving mauls to win, and our set-piece functioned well. We had loads of red-zone entries but only scored three tries, so we need to be more clinical.

"Of course Bath will be a massive test. We want to take this opportunity with both hands and deliver a home cup final for our supporters.

"Fair play to Gloucester, judging by that performance they've got some great young players, and they put in a big performance. We just couldn't get rid of them, and they should be proud of that effort."