By Harvey Allen
Steve Diamond is in good spirits for the season ahead, despite the “big ask” for a successful season that starts at home to Bristol on Friday night. Bristol Bears famously handed Newcastle a shocking 85-14 defeat at Ashton Gate back in April last season, but lost by only eight points in the reverse fixture earlier that campaign.
The Falcons endured a horrific season last year, finishing with zero wins, and just five points at the bottom of the league. Early bookies predictions have them ending up in a similar fashion, but the changing of the guard with Steve Diamond’s introduction could bring the fresh start that they Kingston Park faithful need.
However, Director of Rugby Steve Diamond is hoping to prove the doubters wrong, commenting: “I mean it’s a double edged sword, isn’t it? I could play the line of ‘yeah, we’re sh**’ and ‘Look at what we spend’ and ‘every team should beat us.’ No doubt, there are people out there who’ve got: win, win, five points, five points in both fixtures.
“So, I could continue that narrative and say ‘think like that’, but I think anyone who knows what I’m about once I’ve got my feet under the table, is like that. We might get boshed once or twice this season, when we just have an off day, but they’ll have to be a good side to beat us, certainly up here.”
Newcastle haven’t finished higher than 10th in the Premiership since the 2017-18 season and haven’t been in the Champions Cup since the 2018-19 campaign, in which they were also relegated to the Championship.
With no expectations from the public and potentially other teams, Diamond believes that his side can be a surprise of this season.
“[Qualifying for Champions Cup] will be a big ask, but I think it’s the most achievable thing we could look at. What we’ve said as a squad, if I’m perfectly honest is: we will be recognised as a highly competitive team in the Premiership.
“That gives us a little bit of leeway, if you say you’re going to win 10 games in a season and you lose your first two, you’re bollocksed aren’t you? So you gotta get that bit right. So, we’ll be highly competitive and we understand that there are better teams out there, and some teams will be slightly better prepared than us, no doubt.
“It all comes down to a 100-minute window on a Friday night or Saturday afternoon. What we will have is a very competitive bunch home and away.”