True North rugby put on a nail-biting show twenty seasons ago at Twickenham when Newcastle Falcons edged past Sale in the 2003-04 Powergen Cup final.A London crowd just shy of 50,000 witnessed Falcons pip their northern rivals 37-33 in what was the 33rd iteration of the club competition for English clubs.Falcons had seen off Rotherham Titans 10-38 having joined the competition with the other premiership clubs in the Sixth Round. A Newcastle home quarter final saw London Irish beaten 24-12, setting up a last four clash with Pertemps Bees. The Bees (Birmingham/Solihull rebranded) were swept away 53-3, paving the Falcons route to a final at HQ.Sale’s route to the final saw them despatch Leicester Tigers (28-43), Saracens (QF) (26-3) and Leeds Tykes (SF) (33-20).The earlier rounds of the tournament had seen local teams Tynedale, Blaydon and Darlington Mowden Park meet with some success. The cup included teams from across rugby’s leagues, with a raft of long-established northern teams involved. Preston Grasshoppers, Fylde, Waterloo, Orrell, Hull Ionians, Wakefield, Wharfedale and Harrogate all making early inroads.The Twickenham teams included a host of talent. In keeping with the times, each side fielded relatively few non-UK players (*). The match was overseen by Tony Spreadbury.
