Andrew has to grin and leg it

Not that they would give a damn in the West Country, but Rob Andrew once again beat a retreat from Gloucester, his senses reeling from another pounding. The Newcastle coach bravely ventured on to the pitch before the start to be greeted by a crescendo of booing from the Shed and that was the least of his problems.

Andrew had to grin and leg it after his side had conceded nine tries to a vintage passion play by Gloucester whose reward is an away semi-final in the Zurich Championship. After Gloucester had beaten Newcastle here 29-25 in December, there was uproar, Andrew accusing Olivier Azam of racial abuse following the dismissal for fighting of the Gloucester hooker and the Newcastle flanker Epi Taione. Azam was cleared by an inquiry and Andrew had to issue an apology. It was rammed down his throat yesterday.

An already Herculean task for Newcastle became infinitely harder when a distressed Jonny Wilkinson was carried off Kingsholm with an injury to his left ankle ligaments. The Lions and England stand-off had already been extremely active when he set off on a run and was collared, literally, by Junior Paramore.

The No 8 was being beaten for pace and he just managed to grab hold of Wilkinson's collar, spinning the No 10 on to the ground. He failed to get up, not from whiplash but from damage to his kicking leg. The tackle, if it can be called that, was nothing if not high but the referee Steve Lander did not penalise Paramore.

Nine tries to nil suggests that Wilkinson's premature departure in the 15th minute could scarcely have influenced events but he did have time to put in a tackle on Paramore that was sensational. Revenge, as Paramore, Azam and Gloucester would testify, is sweeter than cider.

Nigel Melville, still finding his feet at Kingsholm after his recent move from Wasps, said his team is beginning to achieve the right balance and here it was displayed in all its glory, forwards and three-quarters linking in an irresistible series of raids that finally swept the Falcons aside.

As for Newcastle, it was a particularly dispiriting end to the season and not least for some great servants who were playing their last game for the club, namely Pat Lam, Doddie Weir and Gary Armstrong. They surely deserved better than this but then Kingsholm has always been a cruel hunting ground.

In the absence of Wilkinson, the Newcastle captain, the hunting party was led by Phil Vickery and his increasingly rampant pack, and what started off as a fairly equal contest, developed into something of a duck shoot. Newcastle, who were not at full strength in either their front or back row, trailed only 3-0 when Wilkinson's departure caused a reshuffle in the back line with Dave Walder moving to stand-off and Liam Botham to fullback. It took Gloucester 25 minutes to break Newcastle's defence and then after Henry Paul had dropped a pass which wrong-footed the cover, Robert Todd beat Jamie Noon's tackle and Gloucester were 10-3 to the good.

A second Walder penalty made it 10-6, prompting the Shed to taunt Lander with a chorus of: "You don't know what you're doing.'' Gloucester, though, knew exactly what they were doing and after a turnover, Azam, Paramore and James Simpson-Daniel sent the impressive young flanker James Forrester in for a try. After Todd went off for treatment to a head injury, his replacement Tom Beim looped outside to score in the left corner. Beim promptly had to give way to the returning Todd who almost immediately ran back a kick and linked with Jake Boer who sent Paramore in for another try

Trailing 29-6 at half-time, Newcastle's talented young backs had chances early in the second half but nothing work-ed for them and instead Gloucester piled on the agony. Daren O'Leary, Vickery, with a bulldozing effort in which he broke two tackles, and the stand-off Ludovic Mercier all crossed in the space of a few minutes, Mercier passing 500 points for the season in the process. The Frenchman had been signed last season by Philippe Saint-André and he has proved a big hit here. His obvious asset is a kick that a mule would be proud of and when Mercier was replaced near the end he was given a tremendous ovation by the crowd of 8,000.

All the while Andrew, standing on the touchline, was being subjected to regular choruses from the Shed that were designed to inflict maximum humiliation. It was overkill for the team was doing quite enough damage on the pitch. Nor did Gloucester show any mercy. Try No 8 was scored by the full-back Paul, who converted his own score, and it was left to Terry Fanolua to complete the rout. Paul, the expensive Rugby League recruit who never saw eye-to-eye with Saint-André, remains an enigma. Although he took his try in style, his passing for the most part was diabolical.

Gloucester 60 Newcastle 9
Tries: Todd, Forrester, Paramore Pens: Walder 3
Beim, O'Leary, Vickery, Mercier, Paul, Fanolua
Cons: Mercier 4, Paul 2
Pens: Mercier

Half-time: 29-6 Attendance: 5,776

Gloucester: H Paul; D O'Leary, T Fanolua, R Todd (T Beim, 28-32), J Simpson-Daniel; L Mercier (Beim, 74), A Gomarsall (D Yachvili, 40); P Collazo (T Woodman, 40), O Azam (C Fortey, 74), P Vickery (capt; A Deacon, 74), R Fidler, E Pearce (C Gillies, 68), J Forrester, J Paramore (K Sewabu, 71), J Boer.

Newcastle: D Walder; L Botham, J Noon, T May (D Richardson, 75), M Stephenson; J Wilkinson (capt; G Maclure, 15), H Charlton (G Armstrong, 50); G Graham, S Brotherstone, M Hurter, D Weir (P Lam, 40), S Grimes, H Vyvyan (A Springgay, 70), R Arnold, R Devonshire.

Referee: S Lander (Liverpool).