By Rob Rush
Newcastle defence coach Scott Baldwin has expressed his sympathy for Newcastle’s budding England internationals, after no Falcons made the grade for Steve Borthwick’s Six Nations squad.
Baldwin was supportive for his players, as Guy Pepper, Adam Radwan and Jamie Blamire all missed out following Wednesday’s squad announcement.
“I’m gutted for them not being in the squad. Blammy (Blamire) has been outstanding for us this season. The good thing is they’re not feeling sorry for themselves, they’re asking ‘where can I improve, what more can I do’ which shows their professionalism and commitment to the group. They’ve been monstrous for us this season along with Phil Brantrigham and Cal alongside Phil Brantingham and Chicky (Callum Chick), they’re the ones who set the tone out on the pitch. I’m massively disappointed for them but I’ll back them to the hills every time”.
Baldwin also praised Louie Johnson’s improved leadership qualities as the 20 year old gets the nod to start in France, with Baldwin calling him the “quarterback” of the offence and the Falcons will be looking for him to orchestrate their attack and wished Louis Rees-Zammit well in his endeavours in the NFL, praising his grounded mentality and his surprising upper body strength.
Baldwin also emphasised how his side are controlling the controllables, for the Falcons trip to play Perpignan this weekend.
“We’ve spoken about controlling the controllables. We looked back at the Saracens game not too long ago, they had 17 entries (into our 22) and they are one of the most effective teams in Europe when they get in. I know the scoreline ultimately didn’t reflect it, but we contained them for a lot of entries, but we can’t afford to give teams these entries”, Baldwin said.
“When we looked back on the games where we’ve been blown away on the scoreboard, a lot of it comes down to discipline and conceding over 10 penalties. When we’ve kept it under 10 penalties, we’ve been keeping within one/two scores. It’s that middle third for us, if you lose the ball there via a penalty or turnover, on average you lose the ball for five minutes.
“The positives for me this season, when we’ve executed what we’ve planned to do and we stick to our system, it’s good for the most part. It can also be when we’re at our most vulnerable though, when you think you’re in control, it’s not always a comfortable place to be because you can start to relax, and that’s where you can miss a fold after the contact, or chucking an extra person in at the breakdown, and the knock on effect is massive.
“We looked back at clips – there was a passage of play where we had eight small errors and it was the ninth one that broke the camel’s back. It’s about believing in the system. I think belief is a big thing, belief in each other and believing in yourself.”
Despite the poor form, Baldwin mentions how the energy in the group this week has been “brilliant” and they are continuing to self evaluate in order to get that first win. “Losing is a habit, but so is winning so hopefully once we get that first one it snowballs our second half of the season.