Wales Flood warning - Toby stakes Six Nations claim with class show

They did it in some style, too, achieving an improbable win not so much through their fly half 's sledgehammer left boot but the irresistible contributions from their other three England backs, highlighted by a try for all three: Mathew Tait, Jamie Noon and, most irresistibly of all, Toby Flood. On this form, Flood's selection at inside centre for the start of the Six Nations against Wales at Twickenham in February is a foregone conclusion.

Flood ensured that Wilkinson's triple miss — twice from 50-yard penalties and a conversion close to the left touchline — mattered not a jot in the final reckoning. The exhilarating nature of his game, allied to the precision of his punting, earned Flood a rare accolade.

"He's nearly as good as Jonny Wilkinson and that's some compliment," said John Fletcher, Newcastle's director of rugby. "Toby is an outstanding player. England should be very proud and pleased to have a kid of his calibre around."

Flood took all of two minutes to leave Sarries flailing in water up to their necks. The exquisite timing of his pass sent Tait accelerating through a gap from full-back for the kind of try which ought to have Brian Ashton rubbing his hands in anticipation at the pair replicating the move in the national interest.

Having made the first, Flood scored the second — flanker Brent Wilson reaching out of a touchline tackle to flip a one-handed pass inside for the centre to plunge Saracens deeper into a mire of their own making.

The gamble of leaving out six of their winning team from the previous week, among them Andy Farrell, had backfired.

They had spent the entire first half serving up what their Australian director of rugby Alan Gaffney described as 'absolute tripe' and yet managed, somehow, to stay within striking distance at 15-6. Newcastle, their scrum strengthened by Carl Hayman's stabilising presence for one last attempt to avoid the stigma of completing a calendar year without a Premiership away win, would have been out of sight had Wilkinson nailed his goals and Flood's clever diagonal chip not bounced badly for Tom May.

What ought to have been the formality of their first away success in the league since Sale 13 months ago turned into a frantically close call. For Wilkinson, the second half evoked memories of a torrid night at the same venue in April 1998 when the same clubs fought it out for the championship and Newcastle, with their 18-year-old prodigy at inside centre, won the race. To their biggest crowd since that occasion — 17,000 — Gaffney said: "I apologise to all supporters for the rubbish we played in the first half. This was a great opportunity for us to encourage them all to come back. They may not after watching that drivel."

Lucky not to have been comprehensively beaten by half-time and working on the principle that they couldn't possibly get any worse, Gaffney sent Glen Jackson on for Gordon Ross at fly half. When they finally got their heavy artillery firing, Wilkinson found himself called upon yet again to demonstrate his unflinching courage in the tackle.

There are few more terrifying sights than Chris Chesney in full flight but England's fearless fly half readily conceded a massive physical disadvantage to stop the 6ft 6in, 18 1⁄2st flanker careering to the line.

Despite that, Newcastle found themselves in the familiar position of falling behind. Denied one try by the video referee's examination of Tait's expert salvage work in preventing Rodd Penney grounding the ball, Sarries' galloping All Black Chris Jack fired the pass for Neil de Kock to squirm under Jon Golding's despairing tackle.

Seven minutes from time, Jack's second-row partner Hugh Vyvyan tore through a hole in Newcastle's defence, punching the ball in ecstasy at what he imagined to be the winning score against his former club.

Ironically, the same player then proceeded to offer Newcastle an immediate reprieve: his obstruction from the kick-off inviting Wilkinson to drill the consequent penalty into the corner.

Once the initial line-out drive had been repelled, Newcastle moved the ball just far enough for Noon to crash over for the winning try. Justice had been done.