Newcastle boss Dan McFarland backs Christian Wade to beat try-scoring record

Dan McFarland hailed the brilliance of record-equalling winger Christian Wade and the resilience of his entire team as Newcastle opened their Gallagher Prem account.

Wade touched down for the sixth time this season and recorded his 101st top-flight try to inspire Red Bulls to a 17-3 success over Sale at Kingston Park.

The much-travelled speed merchant pulled level with the long-standing record of famous former Northampton, Saracens, Sale, Leicester and England try machine Chris Ashton, who was in the stadium.

Wade sprinted in on the right flank for a 49th-minute score before skipper George McGuigan added the crucial second when he touched down on the opposite side from close range.

“Christian is a high-energy player,” said head coach McFarland.

“He knows how to find the try line as all good wingers do.

“He’ll get there (to the record). He’s a tremendous guy and he deserves it.”

Newcastle were certainly deserving of the four points after a full-blooded performance by their new-look squad.

Trailing by three points at the interval, despite having a gale-force wind at their backs in the first half, Red Bulls took their chances superbly after the break, with full-back Josh Hodge adding seven vital points in difficult blustery conditions.

Newcastle have undergone a huge transformation with 25 new signings over the summer and a 26th during the week following the arrival of Canadian forward Mason Flesch.

It left McFarland satisfied to have got off the mark so early in the campaign after away defeats at Northampton and Exeter and a narrow home reverse to Leicester.

“We’re very satisfied to have won tonight, but disappointed we’d not won before this,” said McFarland. “The key thing is we keep trying to play the rugby we want to play.

“We pulled out two really good tries and our defence was excellent, really resilient.”

Sale missed the opportunity to go second in the table, for 24 hours at least.

Despite numerous promising positions, all they had to show for their visit to Tyneside was a 20th-minute penalty from George Ford.

Scoring points has not been an issue for the Manchester club who had averaged 29 per game in all competitions going into Friday night’s trip to Newcastle.

In mitigation, the blustery conditions were hardly conducive to playing good rugby, but director of rugby Alex Sanderson was bitterly disappointed by his side’s display.

“What we did with the ball was the most frustrating, annoying and baffling aspects of tonight’s performance,” he said.

“We weren’t able to win it or keep it and we could not convert anything when we did get into the right areas at the end of the first half and throughout the second.

“You’ve got to come away with points. I wouldn’t even say the errors we made were forced, they were unforced errors.

“We are massively disappointed and that’s not to take any credit away from Newcastle. They were very good with their tactics and they outworked us and they were more physical at times.”