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Beware... Newcastle's David and Goliath act yet to meet its toughest challenge

By Alex Shaw
A Falcons player is strtetchered off during the Aviva Premiership Semi Final between Exeter Chiefs and Newcastle Falcons

It was not the finale to Newcastle Falcons’ season that neutrals up and down the country had hoped for.

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After a spirited second half of the 2016/17 Aviva Premiership season, that almost saw Newcastle qualify for the European Rugby Champions Cup, the challenge was set for the club coming into this season to maintain that level of play and not drop back down into the relegation battle that had been an annual fixture of Falcons’ seasons in the recent past.

Well, Dean Richards’ men defied the detractors and naysayers, and not only did they not drop back down into the battle at the bottom of the table, they continued to take the scalps of the bigger and more established teams towards the Premiership’s summit. Their David and Goliath-inspired season culminated in a trip to the playoffs, a place that just a couple of seasons ago it seemed unthinkable that the Falcons could arrive at.

The fairytale was set. A trip to the home of the current champion Exeter Chiefs, with nothing to lose. A chance to shock all those watching and book a date at Twickenham in the Premiership’s showpiece event.

Nothing to lose, that is, until they did have something to lose.

Pride.

It’s not that they were embarrassed in any way, as teams have gone down to the south-west and been beaten far more prodigiously on the scoreboard, it was more their inability to do anything, at all, about it.

It was a harrowing final 80 minutes of the season for Richards and his men who, through a combination of their own mistakes and the sheer swarming and suffocating nature of Exeter’s play, were unable to fire a shot at Sandy Park.

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If there was a theory that the Falcons had been keeping the powder dry in their Round 22 home loss to Wasps, they needn’t have bothered, such was the one-way nature of this contest. To say Exeter didn’t give Newcastle a sniff would be an understatement.

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The first half bordered on one of the most dominant halves of rugby ever witnessed. The scoreline may have only read 16-0 to Exeter at the interval – and that was to the credit of the Newcastle defence – but the Chiefs boasted 93% territory, 368 metres made to Newcastle’s 10 metres made and the home side had only had to make nine tackles, to a whopping 149 made by Newcastle. Half the Exeter team hadn’t even had to make a single tackle in 40 minutes of rugby.

Stats without context can be misleading and they certainly don’t always decide games, but in this case, they were entirely representative of a match that saw Newcastle taken by the throat by Exeter, right from the opening kick-off.

The game did even up statistically somewhat in the second half, but the damage was long done by then, with Exeter having established a nice buffer of a lead and the Newcastle players having to suck in oxygen at all available times.

It was a savage and timely reminder of the work that still needs to be done by Newcastle, if they are to realise their ambitions and genuinely contend for the title in the seasons to come, but it shouldn’t detract from what has been an immensely successful season for the club from the north-east.

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Newcastle defied expectations from Round 1 – a 35-8 thrashing of Worcester Warriors at Kingston Park – and shook off any assumptions that their loftier position in the Premiership hierarchy the previous campaign was a one-season wonder.

Under Richards’ guidance, the Falcons found a steel on the road that hadn’t previously been there, exemplified perfectly in their narrow away victories over Sale Sharks, Northampton Saints, London Irish, Gloucester and Bath, as well as slightly more rampant away wins over Harlequins and Leicester Tigers.

In fact, the only teams to deny Newcastle a win on the road in the Premiership this season were Exeter, Saracens, Worcester and Wasps. Those eight away wins were the most by any side in the competition, with even Saracens and Exeter having to settle for seven apiece.

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They took their fair share of plunder at the annual Premiership awards night, as you might expect, with Vereniki Goneva winning the Premiership Player of the Season award, as well as being joint top try-scorer, whilst Richards picked up the Director of Rugby of the Season gong.

A playoff appearance and awards weren’t the only highlights of the season, either, with a bumper crowd of 30,174 – a Newcastle record – turning up to St James’ Park to witness the Falcons’ 25-22 victory over Northampton.

This, rightfully, will be remembered as a season when Newcastle made the leap up the Premiership hierarchy, not for a one-sided semi-final appearance, but that poses a whole new set of challenges for the Falcons going into the offseason. Challenges, it’s likely, that will test the club sternly.

No longer are Newcastle considered plucky underdogs, despite their lack of financial firepower relative to some of the teams around them, they are now expected to compete. Expected to contend at the top of the table, whilst also featuring in the much more demanding Champions Cup.

The club’s squad will be stretched, they won’t be able to rest players in Europe and focus on domestic matters and fans, no matter how loyal, will be expectant. They will want that gap that currently separates Newcastle from Exeter and Saracens bridged or, at the least, reined in somewhat.

That, itself, is an unenviable challenge and one which many clubs with larger budgets, such as Leicester Tigers, Harlequins and Bath, have failed to accomplish in recent seasons, offering promise and challenge before falling back into the midtable of the competition. Even Wasps, who have maintained a similar standing with the pair at the top of the table, have come unstuck in the playoffs, unable to quite match the two most recent champions.

Does that mean that Newcastle’s hopes of their rise continuing unabated next season are doomed to fail?

One thing which certainly will aid Richards is the fact that Newcastle no longer seem to be haemorrhaging players each summer.

Key contributors such as Rob Vickers, Scott Lawson and Ally Hogg are retiring, admittedly, but the other players leaving are not leaving in spite of Newcastle’s wishes, they are players the club is content to allow to move on to pastures new and the core of the squad has been contracted up and retained.

Logovi’i Mulipola and George McGuigan have been brought in from Leicester to bolster the front-row, whilst powerful centre Johnny Williams arrives from London Irish, ready to give Newcastle’s midfield a new dimension, after Maxime Mermoz struggled with injury in his debut campaign on Tyneside.

They have also added English flanker Connor Collett, who has been making waves with North Harbour in the Mitre 10 Cup down in New Zealand, having risen swiftly through the ranks after heading south to play club rugby.

Is it enough to bridge that gap with the two finalists? Honestly, the answer is no, it’s probably not, but it does speak to the progress being made in the north-east.

As talented a director of rugby as Richards may be, he knows this is an ongoing process and not something which can be achieved overnight.

Consolidation is the priority right now.

Gloucester are improving under Johan Ackermann’s tutelage and Bath came on strong down the stretch, qualifying for the Champions Cup when many had written them off. Northampton will be welcoming in the vision and coaching IQ of Chris Boyd later this summer and Leicester are too good not to be in the mix for long. Harlequins are a wild card, too, and will likely be a very different prospect under their new coaching set-up, whilst Wasps will not meekly fall out of playoffs themselves.

There is no shortage of suitors for Falcons’ place in the top third of the competition, all of whom, worryingly, can outspend the Falcons.

And herein lies the challenge for Newcastle, straddling the divide between the contenders and the wannabes in the league, not wanting to allow the top teams to get away from them, whilst also having to see off the challenges of those who would steal their spot.

Coming up from the midtable sees teams operate with freedom and without pressure, whilst the glare of the spotlight from being a playoff side has blinded plenty of teams in seasons gone by.

Call it second season syndrome if you want or just put it down to how competitive the Premiership is outside of the top two, but the real test of the new look Newcastle Falcons will come in the 2018/19 season.

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Adrian 1 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

11 Go to comments
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Trevor 4 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

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B
Bull Shark 8 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

Of the rugby I’ve born witness to in my lifetime - 1990 to date - I recognize great players throughout those years. But I have no doubt the game and the players are on average better today. So I doubt going back further is going to prove me wrong. The technical components of the game, set pieces, scrums, kicks, kicks at goal. And in general tactics employed are far more efficient, accurate and polished. Professional athletes that have invested countless hours on being accurate. There is one nation though that may be fairly competitive in any era - and that for me is the all blacks. And New Zealand players in general. NZ produces startling athletes who have fantastic ball skills. And then the odd phenomenon like Brooke. Lomu. Mcaw. Carter. Better than comparing players and teams across eras - I’ve often had this thought - that it would be very interesting to have a version of the game that is closer to its original form. What would the game look like today if the rules were rolled back. Not rules that promote safety obviously - but rules like: - a try being worth 1 point and conversion 2 points. Hence the term “try”. Earning a try at goals. Would we see more attacking play? - no lifting in the lineouts. - rucks and break down laws in general. They looked like wrestling matches in bygone eras. I wonder what a game applying 1995 rules would look like with modern players. It may be a daft exercise, but it would make for an interesting spectacle celebrating “purer” forms of the game that roll back the rules dramatically by a few versions. Would we come to learn that some of the rules/combinations of the rules we see today have actually made the game less attractive? I’d love to see an exhibition match like that.

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