South African Super 12 side Cats bounced back from their 33-8 defeat at Northampton to defeat Newcastle 26-14 tonight.

But they were hanging on against a determined Falcons fightback at the end of the match which went into 10 minutes of injury time.

Newcastle had three early chances with line-outs in the corner after the Cats infringed but the Falcons made a mess of them all before the Cats gave Newcastle a lesson in finishing in the 16th minute.

From the line-out in the corner Johann van Niekerk rumbled over and Andre Pretorius converted.

There was a mass brawl in the 35th minute when James Grindal took exception to the Cats killing the ball and trampled all over James Dalton, who jumped up and threw several punches as players from both side piled in.

Both Grindal and Dalton were warned by the referee who decided a penalty to Newcastle for Dalton's retaliation was the right decision and, once again, the Falcons went for the corner but made a mess of the possession in midfield and it proved costly when Johann van Schalkwyk surged through the middle from 50 metres out to score the Cats' second try.

A poor decision by referee Wayne Barnes led to the Cats' third try when he missed a clear knock on and the Cats were allowed to profit from it with van Schalkwyk cutting through and Pretorius scoring.

Newcastle got on the scoreboard in the 57th minute with a penalty try converted by Liam Botham after the Cats pulled down the rolling maul in the corner and they did it again five minutes later but escaped without censure this time.

Newcastle frustratingly turned the ball over again at a 22 drop out from Wilkinson and the Cats swept it wide for van Niekirk to score in the corner but Newcastle hit back with a charge down and Craig Newby scored with six minutes of normal time left and Botham converted.

There was another mass brawl under the posts as Newcastle frantically pressed for another score but the Falcons' last ditch effort petered out in the face of some determined Cats defence.