By Harvey Allen
Steve Diamond is looking to right the wrongs of the loss last week to Leicester, with a ‘very difficult’ trip to Bristol on Sunday.
Newcastle Falcons are still looking for their first league win of the season, having lost all 14 fixtures so far. However, their narrow loss to Leicester Tigers will provide some optimism for the side heading into a tough away trip to Ashton Gate.
Despite their lack of point scoring, their strong defence has allowed them to pick up five losing bonus points throughout the campaign. Diamond commented: “It’s very difficult to go to Bristol and win at any time, even though they’ve had an upsurge most recently in the last two or three fixtures.
“They play an outstanding brand of rugby, so we’ve got to be able to counteract that. It certainly won’t be like defending against Leicester. So, knowing the number of tries they score on average per game, which is five I think, you’ve got to be able to outscore them, haven’t you?
“I think our set piece and defence will have to be top draw, and then we’ve got to take the opportunities that are put in front of us, which we didn’t do against Leicester.”
Falcons haven’t won at Ashton Gate since the final round of the 2016/17 season, since then both clubs have endured differing successes. With plenty of the squad playing for their future at the club, Diamond believes the added pressure may spur the players on in this last run of fixtures.
“Going down there’s not easy, but what I’ve not had to do, which I thought we would have to do, is generate some motivation in the players, and there’s certainly no lack of that, so the desire, motivation and attitude levels are high. So that gives me a lot of confidence that we can be competitive with the current squad.
“And I think, let’s be perfectly honest, we should have beaten Leicester, and we got the bonus point at Exeter, and I targeted five points, and we were disappointed that we couldn’t win the arm wrestle and strangle Leicester when we had the perfect opportunity to do that.”