Tait savours dramatic win

Newcastle head coach Alan Tait hailed his side's battling qualities after they snatched a dramatic late 21-20 victory over Harlequins to reach the LV= Cup final.

With time up on the clock, Jimmy Gopperth and Alex Tait combined to send Tane Tuipolutu over in the corner and seal Newcastle their first final appearance since they won the Powergen Cup in 2004.

"You can count on one hand as you go through your career the amount of times you win a game like that," admitted Tait.

"They had thrown everything at us. I had hardly sat in my seat and they were 7-0 up and Ugo Monye dropped a scoring opportunity as well.

"You ride your luck but I have to praise our lads for the effort they put in, they never say die. They have really battled.

"I am sure this will give a massive lift to the club.

"We have to look at our main priority in the Premiership but it's a great honour to play in finals and we have worked really hard.

"I feel for the Harlequins boys because it is a hard pill to swallow.

"But we didn't win it with a penalty. We won it with a try that was worthy of winning a game of rugby."