Steve Diamond vexed by Newcastle Red Bulls loss

Newcastle Red Bulls director of rugby Steve Diamond cut a frustrated figure after his side started the season with a 39-17 defeat against Saracens.

Despite all the excitement around the rebranded Newcastle outfit’s new era in front of their first sell-out crowd of 10,210 since 2018, it was a similar story as the ex-European champions turned the screw in the second half.

Diamond said: “First half we were highly competitive with a low penalty count, and second half we were the creators of a lot of our own downfall.

“Certainly, it was a lot of what we would expect, as I don’t want to be guilty of drinking the Kool-Aid and thinking what’s gone is brilliant. While what’s happened around the place is fantastic and you can see it tonight, we’ve got to get our basics right.

“If you can’t win scrums and lineouts, and people don’t know their roles, and they are not difficult roles to know, then you’ve got problems.

“We need to be a bit more physical, in the second half Saracens were taking us off the ball legally, and taking the ball with them. We had the ball 42 times and we lost it 30 times. So, we won’t compete if those are the stats and it’s a bit more graft on the training paddock, I think.”

He continued: “Top teams like Saracens, that’s what they do, they absorb the pressure, came back to score a try down the right-hand side to nudge in front and just managed to keep ahead.

“For us it was an error-strewn second half, really. Saracens were unlucky with the red card, looked like more of a rugby incident, and we didn’t capitalise in that period either.

“I’m not disappointed, just frustrated.”

Saracens’ returning star Owen Farrell put in a masterclass performance as the Londoners scored five tries.

A smiling Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall said: “The first game of the season may be a bit scrappy, but we were looking to see the identity of the team, and you get the 20-minute red card (for Nathan Michelow) and you get to see that pretty quickly.

“During that period, we showed the fight and the smarts that you want, which was really good.

“Overall, I’m pleased with our attitude, pleased with our physicality as this is a tough place to come and we stood up to the challenge today, so it was a really good performance.

“It wasn’t perfect, but the thing that was most pleasing was how we cracked on with the next thing and backed each other up.”

“Sometimes the outcome dictates the decision, you think 20 minutes is enough for a challenge like that which is so borderline, and (Michelow) will probably get a ban, and for a 21-year-old, I don’t know if banning someone for three weeks for that is what the game needs.”

Updated following PA correction