Goosen: Hailed as a 'class act'

South African Goosen scored three of his side's five tries as last season's beaten finalists claimed a comfortable victory at Kingston Park.

Tait lauded Goosen following the win, but he also had words of praise for the rest of his players as they recorded a convincing triumph.

"Greg's a class act. He's been a class act since he came here, but it also makes a difference we have a player of the quality of Corne Uys in the centre as well," Tait said.

"Scoring tries is what we're trying to achieve and also not conceding is what it's about and we did that and what was also pleasing was the way we went about our business."

It took just two minutes for Newcastle to get themselves in front when Mark Wilson went over for a try that was converted by Jimmy Gopperth.

Goosen then added two more tries in the eighth and 24th minutes to help Newcastle build a 19-0 lead at half-time.

Goosen completed his hat-trick and the try-scoring bonus point in the 51st minute, with Gopperth again added the extra points to make it 26-0.

Cardiff finally got on the scoreboard when Rhys Patchell slotted over a penalty in the 54th minute, but Newcastle added a fifth try through Michael Mayhew soon after, with Gopperth converting to complete the scoring.

Aside from their impressive attacking display, Tait was also delighted by his side's defence.

"It's always nice to keep the other side out and we were screaming at them at end not to give it up when Cardiff had us under pressure," he said.

"I've congratulated the lads on that because we were in a bit of a no-win situation. They were a young, stuffy side and they were under no pressure and relaxed which can be quite dangerous while we were looking for a really good performance.

"So it is pleasing to get that sort of performance although we did have a five to 10 minutes period in the second half when we fell off the standard and had what we call our mad moments when people swan off and do their own thing and don't stick to the plan."