'Stick him in Leicester’s team now, I guarantee they’d be in the top four' - Andy Goode
Don’t patronise Newcastle by talking about the plucky Falcons making the play-offs. They’ve got both grit and stardust, have built sensibly to this point and it could be the start of something special in the North East.
They’ve improved year on year and I thought they were in with a good shout of qualifying for the Champions Cup this season but to make it into the top four is a hell of an achievement and beyond even what they expected of themselves.
I remember speaking to Dean [Richards] at the start of the season and he said their target was to finish in the top six but they’ve grown as the campaign has gone on and have seen that they have nothing to fear and gradually started to believe that the play-offs were a realistic proposition.
The bulk of this side were at Kingston Park last season with Toby Flood adding a bit of experience and nous around the camp, Josh Matavesi being a solid addition in midfield and Gary Graham being plucked from Jersey and having an outstanding first season.
So, the recruitment has been fantastic with a limited budget but the coaching under Dave Walder, who has moved up to become head coach this season, has really taken players that aren’t all household names on to the next level.
People are talking a lot about their attack but they’ve actually scored fewer tries than anyone else in the top 10 and it’s their defence and how tough they’ve been to break down that’s been the most impressive aspect of their game for me. Only Exeter and Saracens have conceded fewer tries in the whole of the Premiership.
John Wells has been around a long time and deserves a lot of credit for the work he’s done as defence coach this season and perhaps him focusing on that underneath Walder has made a difference as well.
Micky Ward and Scott MacLeod have played key roles too and that coaching group has developed together. The make-up of it hasn’t changed this season but Walder’s voice now has more weight to it. He’s the guy that oversees all of the coaching now and implements the game plan from Deano and that’s worked so well for them.
They reached the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup and Anglo Welsh Cup as well, so that shows that there’s depth in the squad now and the whole club is building nicely behind the scenes.
It’s about belief as well. They now know how to win games and are confident that their game plan will deliver results, so when the going gets tough they trust each other and trust that they’ll get the win if they stick to what they do well.
We survived when I was there in 2016 but finished 11th, then they ended up in eighth last season but to finish third or fourth this season is a remarkable achievement.
There’s been a lot of consistency in the squad and in selection in the past couple of years and they’ve gradually become a lot more comfortable with their systems and what they’re trying to do but the X-factor of Vereniki Goneva has really made the difference this campaign.
Their resolve, determination, spirit and forward power has been really impressive all year but you need star quality to make it into the play-offs as well and he has provided that in abundance with his 13 tries and everything else that he offers on top of that.
He scored another two tries on Friday night and has really come back to bite the Tigers after they let him go a couple of years ago. He’s 34 now but I think they undervalued him massively and they’ll certainly be regretting that decision now.
If you stick him in Leicester’s team now, I guarantee they’d be in the top four. The form that he’s in at the moment, he would walk into any Premiership team.
Leicester have missed out on the play-offs for the first time in 14 years and for the Falcons to win at Welford Road for the first time for two decades and eliminate them will have made it even sweeter for Deano after he left there under a bit of a cloud in 2004.
It’s the end of an era for the Tigers but it’s all about the Falcons this year and it could be the start of a great new dawn for them.
They’ve got absolutely nothing to fear in the semi-finals. They’ve won 10 of their last 12 Premiership games and have won seven of their away fixtures in the league, so nobody’s going to want to play them. Home advantage is massive in the play-offs and Exeter and Saracens will be big favourites but Newcastle won’t mind that one bit.
Comments on RugbyPass
If Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
69 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
1 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
2 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real people. They claim free speech. Free speech for anonymous trolls/voilent thugs threatening people under false names? The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
2 Go to commentsSo if this ain’t the best Irish team ever then who exactly is? I don’t remember any other Irish team being this good & winning a series in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Yes I may rip them often for 8 X QF RWC exits & twice not even making it to the QF, but they’re a damn good team who many think can only improve, including me!
69 Go to commentsNot a squeek out of Leinster for weeks about this match. So quiet. The first team have been quitely building for this encounter under Nienaber’s direction. All fresh, all highly motivated. They are expecting a season’s best performance from Northhampton. They will match that. They will be fresher and apparently they will have 80,000 out of the 83,000 shouting for them. I do expect Northhampton to turn up big time. Not to be missed. On a tangent it is evident how the loss of a few Premiership teams has in some respect helped other Premiership teams and England. More quality over less teams makes the teams better, which has a knock on effect on England. Not the only factor contributing to England’s rise but one of them.
2 Go to commentsOur very own monster teddy bear Ox😍💪
17 Go to commentsThis is might be the most generalised, entitled, patronising, out-of-pocket cultural indictment on a group of people you’ll ever see on what is supposedly a sports publication. I can only assume the author is weak like a woman or homosexual. I’m feeling an incredible range of emotions but I am not quite sure how to express them. I might go beat up a hockey player - assuming that’s okay with Duane and the boys? 🙂
9 Go to commentsBest thing the Welsh clubs could do is apply to join Gallagher prem surely be more exciting matches for there support than they have now.
2 Go to commentsRugbyPass writers are useless! you guys should get a real job because you all suck at writing about rugby!!!
9 Go to commentslooking forward to RWC2027 …. Boks on mission impossible for the Three-in-a-row, ABs to prove they being on par, France wishing to crown the “DuPont-era”, Ireland knocking on the Semi-Door ….. until then we’ll probably have to deal with Weird Ben’s fantasy-RWC23 (fun fact is, the drivel always creates a flooding of comments) …..
222 Go to commentsBen Smith you really make some good points in this article, the Springboks were not close to perfect and good still beat the All Blacks, imagine if they were as good as they were against France what a hiding the All Blacks would have gotten… maybe another Twickenham drubbing
222 Go to commentsIt is a good argument to keep the Rebels for one more year but also isnt this just opening the door as well for keeping them beyond 2025. If they can create some sort of financial stability in the next year and if their performances lift as they have this season then how would RA even cull them after that? It might be the most cost effective decision at this stage and perhaps many people are guilty of keeping relationships going because of the cost to decouple but then again when does that ever work out well?
29 Go to commentsDear Ben Smith you are a genius! God please become the next all blacks coach that can take on the mighty BOKS. Your rugby acumen is second to none - imagine your dads sperm bounced as unfortunately as that oval ball did….we would not be blessed with your presence. Just as the all blacks were missing a man you too are missing a chromosome for 80% of your life, so your insights are not only profound but ring true from your own experiences. Just as the TMO interfered with citing an illegal pass I am sure your local authorities interfere with your illegal passes you make on women - How dare they!!! God forbid that rugby be officiated fairly. You are the right man for the job. Next all blacks coach is here ladies and gentlemen Miss Ben Smith (He/She/They/IT)
222 Go to comments