The major admission as Newcastle Red Bulls cop failings after thrashing

Newcastle Red Bulls have conceded they were nowhere near good enough in last weekend’s 62-3 thrashing at the hands of Leicester Tigers as they look for an immediate response when Bristol Bears visit Kingston Park on Friday night in the Gallagher PREM.

Stephen Jones’ side return to home action six days after that loss, with the head coach admitting his team fell short across key areas and made the challenge harder through ill-discipline.

“We fell short in certain aspects last week, and let’s see a response on Friday against Bristol,” said Jones. “Leicester brought a physical game and we made life difficult for ourselves with an early yellow card followed by a 20-minute red, and it’s a huge ask playing with 13 men against a top side.”

Jones said the setback has prompted a detailed review, with an emphasis on accountability rather than words.

“We’ve had a good, honest look at ourselves this week, we’ve held a detailed review as to why it happened, and more importantly how we can implement our own style onto the game. So yeah, there was some hard learnings for us, and the main thing is how we now act on the back of it.

Fixture

Gallagher Premiership

Newcastle

11:45

24 Apr 26

Bristol

All Stats and Data

“Personal pride is the first place you look, but the great thing is we have an opportunity six days later to make sure we show how good we can be.”

On the field, Brett Connon returns at fly-half for the 7.45pm kick-off, while Josh Hodge is named at full-back for his first home appearance for the club.

There are changes in the front row, with Murray McCallum and Adam Brocklebank both coming back in at prop, and Finn Baker makes his first PREM start in the second row.

Amanaki Mafi is included among the replacements after returning to fitness, adding experience to the back row options.

Jones said the focus against Bristol must shift quickly from reflection to execution, particularly in contact and defence.

“We want to move the ball and ask questions of teams but we have to remember we are in a collision sport, and dominance in the contact area is crucial if we are to play the game we want.

“It will be a very different challenge on Friday because Bristol are a team with high ball movement, looking to recycle the ball quickly and get it early to the width. That’s different to a Leicester who will primarily come through the front door, but it all goes back to your defensive principles.”

Jones concluded: “From our perspective we have to set quickly in defence and make sure our collisions are good. If we dominate the collisions then we’re in a good place, but we need to do it rather than just talking about it.”

Newcastle Red Bulls v Bristol Bears:15 Josh Hodge, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Alex Hearle, 12 Rhys Beeckmans, 11 Elliott Obatoyinbo, 10 Brett Connon, 9 James Elliott; 1 Adam Brocklebank, 2 Ollie Fletcher, 3 Murray McCallum, 4 Jamie Hodgson, 5 Finn Baker, 6 Freddie Clarke, 7 Tom Christie (captain), 8 Reuben Parsons

Replacements: 16 Samson Adejimi, 17 Micky Rewcastle, 18 Richard Palframan, 19 John Hawkins, 20 Amanaki Mafi, 21 Sam Stuart, 22 Ben Healy, 23 George Bolam