Abbott, named skipper on the night, made a second half appearance in the Amlin Challenge Cup victory in Spain at the weekend after recovering from a hamstring injury.

The home-grown back row marked his first appearance at Sixways this season with a try, but he could not stop the hard-working Cavaliers from defeat.

Joel Hodgson gave Falcons an early lead before Cavaliers, who included the impressive Richard De Carpentier on his debut, hit back through Abbott.

Falcons eventually flew clear with Joe Robinson (2) and Ben Morris touching down.

But Worcester would have been encouraged by the home display with a number of eye catching displays from the Cavaliers who never let their heads drop in the second half.

De Carpentier, on trial this month, was in the thick of the action from the start as he rattled into early contact to break the game line while Ben Howard showed all his composure to mop up danger after a kick ahead into space by Falcons.

An early penalty for Falcons saw Hodgson line up a kick at the posts and give the visitors a third minute lead.

Front row duo Ed Shervington and Rob O'Donnell carried strongly into contact as Cavaliers looked to respond. But when the home side were penalised for not releasing the visitors drove a lineout up close before Hodgson skipped inside tackles to touch down.

Huge work-rate from Abbott, who continued his comeback from injury by skippering the side, saw him look to disrupt Falcons at the breakdown as he swarmed on any breakdown.

A charge down on a kick from ex-Worcester man Andy Higgins saw Cavaliers force field position with Joe Nellany, seconds after producing a diving effort to stop a penalty for touch going out, racing down on his opposite number.

Worcester enjoyed a period of pressure as they drove a lineout and after Porter and Frost dived for the line it was Abbott who crashed his way over. Nellany added the conversion to cut the lead back to 10-7 at the midpoint of the half.

Fly half Tom Baker pinned Falcons back with a neat low kick into space as Cavaliers really fronted up with a number of thumping runs with De Carpentier showing up strong. Nellany levelled up the scores with another sweetly struck penalty.

Cavaliers resisted a big Falcons driving lineout as they shunted play into touch close to the try line as the game entered the final ten minutes of the half. But more power saw the forwards pick and go around the fringes until Lee Robinson dived over from close range.

Falcons looked to have shot themselves in the foot within a minute by running a drop out, after a great chase from Howard, and allowing the home pack to swoop at the breakdown to win a penalty. Nellany, though, pushed his kick wide of the posts.

Good continuity from Tom Leach and Jack Wardle saw Cavaliers work their way into Newcastle territory. But a series of penalties forced Worcester back before Hodgson kicked his team into a 18-10 half-time lead.

Cavaliers changed the entire front row at half-time to give more players valuable game time while Josh Watkins showed neat feet to break tackles and force his way into the 22 before ball was turned over on the floor.

The elusive Nellany showed his pace to break the line and James Currie also punched his way through holes before the tricky winger slotted a penalty to reduce the lead in a quick rain shower.

Newcastle hit back with Peter Weightman picking a great line to make space before Ben Morris scrambled his way over the whitewash to extend the Falcons advantage to ten points.

Four minutes later more forward power saw a lineout driven over with flanker Robinson grabbing his second of the night.

Cavaliers kept battling and going forward with Watkins jinking inside one man before his forwards joined him to drive the winger over the halfway line. However, Watkins limped off afterwards leaving the home side down to 14 men for the final five minutes.

De Carpentier broke the line and fed Dan Young to rattle up to the line. The home Number Eight was then just stopped short as he reacted quickest to a penalty as Cavaliers came agonisingly close to the final score of the night.

Timeline:

03m Hodgson p 0-3

09m Hodgson t Hodgson c 0-10

19m Abbott t Nellany c 7-10

26m Nellany p 10-10

31m Robinson t 10-15

40m Hodgson p 10-18

47m Nellany p 13-18

56m Morris t 13-23

60m Robinson t Guy c 13-30

Cavaliers: 01 George Porter (Jones 40), 02 Ed Shervington (Hayes 40), 03 Rob O'Donnell (Currie 40), 04 Tom Pool, 05 Nile Dacres, 06 Tom Leach (Tahaoui 40), 07 Jake Abbott (Young 50), 08 Richard De Carpentier, 09 Ollie Frost, 10 Tom Baker, 11 Josh Watkins, 12 Jake Wardle (Shillingord 48), 13 Max Stelling (Gregson 61), 14 Joe Nellany, 15 Ben Howard

Replacements: 16 Ceri Jones, 17 Ollie Hayes, 18 James Currie, 19 Samir Tahaoui, 20 Dan Young, 21 Stephan Shillingford, 22 Callum Macburie, 23 Geoff Gregson