Brian Smith’s Exiles led 20-10 at Kingston Park on Falcons’ new, synthetic pitch.

But the home side scored a third try late on to go 20-18 behind and set up a nervy finish on Sunday.

However, the visitors survived to claim their first league victory of the season against a Newcastle side who have now lost their last 18 Premiership matches.

Head coach Smith’s decision to play Shane Geraghty in the centre and Chris Noakes at fly-half reaped dividends, with Geraghty kicking 10 points in the game in stark contrast to Falcons’ Pablo Socino, who missed six out of seven attempts at the posts.

The manner of the hard-fought victory delighted Smith who beamed: “Even though we didn’t rack up a big score, we asked more questions with Shane at number 12.

“Chris and Shane did well for us at 10 and 12, but we are a side that has to grind out wins in these sort of games. As we gain more confidence we’ll string a few wins together and we will get better.

“We coughed up three tries, one in the tackle area and two on the drive. Apart from the tackle on the short side for their third try, I thought our defence was decent.”

He added: “We put together a plan for the wind and how to manage it. We also trained on a surface just like the one at Newcastle at our training centre.

“Chris is an out-and-out 10 and part of the plan was to have a left and right kicker at 10 and 12.

“The wind wasn’t as substantial as we thought it would be, but having a ball player like Shane who has also good footwork at 12 was the key.”

Smith tinkered with his squad with Noakes making his first start at fly-half and Geraghty slotting into midfield alongside Fergus Mulchrone. Andrew Fenby and Alex Lewington.

Falcons took the lead through a try from the impressive Josh Furno, with Socino missing the conversion on a poor day for the Argentine.

Two penalties from the boot of Geraghty nudged Irish 6-5 in front at the interval.

Smith’s men then stepped on the gas and scored a try within five minutes of the restart through Mulchrone.

Scott Steele started the move down the left before Geraghty fed Fenby who slipped the ball to Mulchrone to score out wide, with Geraghty adding the extras for a 13-5 lead.

Irish’s discipline let them down when Tom Court was sinbinned and Falcons took advantage as replacement prop Scott Wilson crossed the whitewash and, though Socino’s conversion was off-target again, Exiles’ lead had been cut to 13-10 with 25 minutes remaining.

But the visitors gave themselves some breathing space thanks to Fenby’s try soon after following an initial break by substitute scrum-half Tomas O’Leary. Geraghty was on target with the conversion once again to put them 20-10 in front.

A nervy finished ensued after Socino kicked a penalty - his only success from the tee - before Falcons winger Sinoti Sinoti dabbed down in the corner to make it 20-18.

However, Socino’s touchline attempt struck the upright, much to the relief of Irish as they celebrated their first Premiership victory.

Exiles host Saracens at Madejski Stadium this Saturday (3pm ko).