WORCESTER Warriors ended their long wait for an Aviva Premiership away win with a crucial 15-14 victory at relegation rivals Newcastle Falcons tonight.

Tries from Dewald Potgieter and Bryce Heem gave Warriors a deserved victory on a bitterly cold night at Kingston Park.

Warriors had won on their last visit to Newcastle in March 2014 and they repeated the dose to the delight of director of rugby Dean Ryan.

It was only Warriors’ third win in their last 36 Premiership away trips and it was built on an heroic defensive display.

And it was Warriors' first league double over Falcons and boosts their chances of avoiding the drop.

Warriors finished with 14 men after skipper Gerrit-Jan van Velze was yellow carded with seven minutes remaining.

And Falcons ended a man short after Marcus Watson was sent to the sin bin.

Falcons made the running in the early stages and Andy Goode attempted a chip and chase as Warriors’ backline remained alert.

Warriors tried to test Falcons with Cooper Vuna and Heem looking sharp on the flanks but their charge was halted when Val Rapava Ruskin was wrapped up at the breakdown.

Falcons, with Goode seeing plenty of the ball, continued to look the more threatening in the opening but were guilty of sloppy mistakes in the cold conditions.

Potgieter made a crucial tackle as Falcons scrum-half Micky Young tried to burst through the midfield as the hosts tried to raise the tempo.

Warriors were caught offside as Falcons threatened and Goode’s penalty fired Falcons into a 3-0 lead after 16 minutes.

Warriors’ livewire scrum-half Francois Hougaard threw himself into tackles but Warriors were pinged again by referee Wayne Barnes after Wynand Olivier caught Simon Hammersley high.

However, Warriors had an escape when Goode missed the target with long-range penalty attempt after 23 minutes.

Val Rapava Ruskin and Olivier both impressed for Warriors with the prop showing some deft passes.

Warriors’ penalty count continued to rise and Goode slotted his second three-pointer in the 31st minute. The ball bounced off both posts before sneaking over.

Warriors enjoyed their best spell of pressure and should have got on the board after Nili Latu was caught offside.

However, Tom Heathcote dragged his penalty attempt wide from in front of the posts.

However, Warriors ended the first period with a flourish and grabbed the first try a minute before the interval.

Hougaard and Potgieter secured a penalty after Falcons scrum-half Micky Young was pinged for not releasing the ball under pressure.

Warriors kicked to the corner and Potgieter finished off a well-worked driving line-out for his maiden try for the visitors.

Heathcote’s conversion gave the visitors a narrow 7-6 lead at the break.

Warriors made one change at the break with Sam Betty coming on for try-scorer Potgieter, who appeared to hurt his arm.

The visitors thought they had grabbed a second try through Hougaard but he dapped down inches short of thel line.

And, with Falcons having infringed earlier in the move, Heathcote’s close-range penalty extended Warriors’ lead to 10-6.

Lock Darren Barry was penalised for not rolling away at the other end and Goode’s third penalty, on 54 minutes, closed the gap to one point.

Warriors enjoyed scrum supremacy in the second half and the visitors bagged another well-worked try, Heem finishing off a fine move after Heathcote and Hougaard combined. Heathcote’s conversion hit the post.

Falcons threw everything at Warriors and a try-saving tackle from Heem halted wing Marcus Watson.

Warriors were reduced to 14 men in the 72nd minute when skipper van Velze was sent to the sin-bin and Falcons immediately broke through with a close-range try from Rob Vickers.

Replacement kicker Craig Willis made a hash of the conversion attempt and then wing Watson was yellow carded after slapping down a pass with four minutes left.

In a tense finale, Warriors held on for their first top-tier away win for two years.

Warriors: 7 Pennell, 8 Heem, 8 Olivier, 8 Mills, 7 Vuna (Symons 58), 8 Heathcote, 9 Hougaard, 8 Ruskin (Leleimalefaga 67), 7 Bregvadze, 8 Schonert (Johnston 71), 8 O’Callaghan, 7 Barry, 7 Dowson, 7 Potgieter (Betty 41), 6 Van Velze. Not used: Annett, Sanderson, Baldwin, Lamb.

Referee: Wayne Barnes.

Attendance: 6,353.