Harlequins ..............20 Newcastle.............. 44

Brilliant Newcastle were crowned Allied Dunbar Premiership champions with a champagne six-try performance to crush Harlequins at The Stoop.

The victory was a personal triumph for Falcons' director of rugby Rob Andrew, who scored 19 points, and was then chaired off the pitch by jubilant Newcastle supporters.

Newcastle needed one point to pip Saracens for the title, but their victory was never in doubt as Gary Armstrong (2), Richard Arnold, Pat Lam, Dick Popplewell and Andrew all crossed the Harlequins' try line.

After the final whistle, Andrew was chaired off the pitch as hundreds of Geordie fans took consolation in winning rugby's title after their soccer side had lost the FA Cup final to Arsenal.

The director of rugby has mastermind the Newcastle miracle that dragged them from bottom of League Two in February 1996 to the title just 28 months later.

Saracens finished a single point adrift, but both they and Newcastle were streets ahead of the pack.

Bath, Leicester and Wasps were anonymous in terms of silverware and Harlequins were left to rue the league form which has them anchored in the lower half of the table.

Andrew was full of invention, scored a classic stand-off try and was unrecognisable as 'Rob the Boot' from his England days.

His half-back partner, Gary Armstrong, was an action replay of his entire career. He passed, kicked and snapped up tries in a near perfect display.

Andrew landed a fourth-minute penalty to set them on their way, but they had to withstand numerous Harlequins attacks.

But Quins repeatedly spilt

passes or failed to retain possession, and never put a man clear on the wings or down the middle.

Newcastle knew that it was going to be their day when

Thierry Lacroix failed with a straight-on penalty.

By the end of the first quarter Newcastle were 17-0 clear and had two hands on the trophy.

Flanker Richard Arnold set up Armstrong for the first try and then scored the second himself following a series of stabs from midfield to the goal-line.

Andrew converted both tries and when Lacroix found his range with two penalties, Newcastle sent prop Nick Popplewell crashing over from close range after a forwards' build-up.

The Falcons boasted a convincing 22-6 lead at half-time and soon into the second half, Andrew side-stepped at high speed past a couple of tacklers for a try he converted.

Harlequins scrum-half Huw Harries scored a similarly slick try, converted by Lacroix, but the flow of the match remained in Newcastle's favour and the other flanker Pat Lam claimed a deserved score.

Andrew gave his boys a breather by taking a simple penalty instead of running the ball, and Newcastle signed off when Armstrong dived into a creaking Harlequins scrum to grab the sixth try and Andrew made his fourth conversion.

In injury time, Dan Luger's try and Lacroix's conversion completed the scoreline.

But Newcastle has the game wrapped up long before the final whistle and this prize could be the first in a sequence.

They have proved impossible to beat at home and have lost only on three trips to London - a nightmare that they easily avoided yesterday.

Harlequins: Williams, O'Leary, Ngaumo, Mensah, Luger, Lacroix, Harries, Leonard, Wood, Yates, Gareth Llewellyn, Collier, Jenkins, White-Cooper, Cabannes. Replacements: Keyter, Walsh, Riley, Allison, Delaney.

Newcastle: Legg, Naylor, Wilkinson, Tuigamala, Underwood, Andrew, Armstrong, Popplewell, Nesdale, Van Zandvleit, Archer, Weir, Lam, Arnold, Walton. Replacements: Graham, Horton, Simpson-Daniel, Tait, Metcalfe, O'Neill

Referee: A Rowden (Berkshire)