Leicester Tigers player ratings from Newcastle Falcons cup loss: 'Spoilt for choice'

Leicester Tigers lost their third round Premiership Cup fixture 36-28 to Newcastle Falcons at Kingston Park on Friday night.

Tries from Kini Murimurivalu, Hosea Saumaki and two from Archie Vanes plus four points each off the tee from Dan Lancaster and Juan Pablo Socino ultimately wasn’t enough as Newcastle scored 12 unanswered points in the final exchanges.

Newcastle registered six tries through Nathan Earle, Zach Kerr, Max Wright, George Wacokecoke, Robbie Smith, Alex Tait, with six points off the boot of Brett Connon to lead pool 2 of the cup on 11 points.

Here’s how our reporters Ethan Clamp and rated the Leicester Tigers players out of ten...

The Fijijan started in only his third game of the season at full-back and got straight into action attacking an early breakdown and continued to be Tigers’ main threat there all evening. Murimurivalu showed his excellent attacking play, breaking tackles and running from deep - topped off with a typically physical finish in the corner for his fifth try of the season. However, we again saw his defensive frailties in his weak attempt at a tackle on Lockwood in the lead up to Falcons second score.

It was only the fourth time we’ve seen the South African this season and the winger looked to make up for lost time with an excellent bit of defense early on. Unfortuntley, we didnt get to see him with ball in hand too much and his evening was cut short by 10 minutes as he was yellowed for a high tackle on Nathan Earle. It's just not happening for him in Tigers colours.

His return to action after nearly 400 days out sadly lasted only nine minutes as he left the field in discomfort. The captain on the day looked sharp with a couple of strong tackles but as he chased a Lancaster kick