Newcastle Falcons Director of Rugby Steve Diamond has rallied his squad, to bounce back from defeat ahead of the second round of the Premiership Rugby season. After a winless campaign last year, Diamond is adamant that his side have what it takes to get some points on the table, and not risk relegation with a bottom-placed finish.
The Falcons put in a gutsy performance in their opening round loss to Bristol Bears, with Diamond’s side holding the Bristolians to just a 5-3 half-time lead. Unfortunately for the Falcons, three unanswered second half Bristol tries racked up a significant points tally, with England wing Max Malins’ brace building towards the eventual 24-3 away win.
Speaking in this morning’s Newcastle Falcons press conference, Diamond is not panicked by the opening round defeat. The Director of Rugby insisted that the Falcons were not rushing into the match as a ‘must win’, with the club remaining a positive environment ahead of their upcoming trip to Harlequins this weekend. Whilst Diamond admits that his side are ‘not a World XV’, the 55-year-old backs his men to do more than ‘make up the numbers’ this Saturday at the Stoop.
“We didn’t build up the first game as, this has got to be a win, and it’s a disaster if we don’t. We’ve got some small steps that we’re trying to make, and we made a few last week. Our set piece let us down, or certainly the line-out let us down. Our decision making, taking opportunities let us down. So to be a highly competitive team in the competition, I know from experience, playing wise and coaching wise that it doesn’t come in 80 minutes.”
“So it’s a very positive environment, if I’m honest and I’m not b********ing, we don’t need to. The lads understand where we’re at. We’re not a World XV, but we’re not going to be a walk over either.”
A unique issue that Newcastle face compared to the rest of the Premiership clubs, is that the squad size in the North East is considerably smaller than that of the other nine teams. Diamond explained how he only has 38 senior contracted players at his disposal and will have to utilise his academy players throughout the season.
This is a stark contrast to the 70+ playing squads that the title chasing sides can utilise, yet Diamond remains confident that his side will surpass at least one club to the bottom of the league.
“I think that’s a big test for us. That’s the next step of getting past 50 minutes and 60 minutes and staying in it. But you remember that comes with your depth of squad. We’re playing teams who’ve got squads of 70 people, we’re running with 38.
“So the game has been in such a bad position over the last five years, one of the reasons I’m in at Newcastle with Semore Kurdi and the Thompson family is to get this running as a business as well as a successful rugby team.
“You can’t do that at the moment, in the financial economy as it is, running 80 players, 70 players out of here, we’re never going to be able to do it. We’ll be bankrupt. We’ll be like, one of the other three, Worcester, (London) Irish and Wasps.
“So we’ve got to realise that to get to 60 minutes in the game, everybody possibly could do that. Then it’s just strength of bench that comes on. Our first-up 25 is very good. If I’ve got my first-up 25 fit, if I haven’t, and I rely on my kids, then we’ll have our time in some of the games in that period. But the one thing is for sure is, we won’t finish bottom of the league.”
Given the limited options from a playing group perspective, the variation in Diamond’s game plan only goes so far. The DoR made it clear that Newcastle fans can expect to see a good deal of consistency from the men in black and white, with this being key to developing the down to earth system he’s introduced in the North East.
“We just got to get it right. So the team will be selected very, very consistently. You’ve got to have a shocker to come out the team at the moment, and you’ve also got to train really well and impressed on the bench to get in the team.
“So, it’s a really healthy environment and the beauty of only having 38 senior players and 12 kids is, I think we’ve got seven injured at the moment, so our 38 is down to 31. We’ve got to pick 23 plus five traveling reserves. We’re not managing egos of people. Everybody’s involved and our kids know the crack.
“Our kids will be picking the kit up after training. They’ll be cleaning the gym, there’ll be training tomorrow, when we’re on the road. So we’ve got that real, earthy mentality around the place.”
Amongst the Falcons player pool are an assortment of fresh faces, with Newcastle once again busy in the Summer transfer window. The Falcons made nine senior signings and recruited an additional seven players from universities and out of their academy system, with centre Sammy Arnold having an immediate impact at Kingston Park.
Diamond was delighted with Arnold’s performance against Bristol last weekend, as the 28-year-old Irishman arrived from Brive in the French D2. Also, there was an honourable mention to scrum half Joe Davis, who made his senior debut for the Falcons off the bench last Friday evening. Diamond gave his two cents on Arnold and Davis, and is excited to see who will be next in line to make their mark in Falcons colours.
“I’ve admired him (Sammy Arnold) for a bit to be fair, he’s good on both sides of the ball. Good attacker, obviously, putting aside together, like we’re trying to do in Newcastle, where we’re starting at the bare bones.
“It’s always good to have centres who can carry and who can defend. Reminiscent of when I was at Sale with (Sam) Tuitupou and (Johnny) Leota. You always need somebody who can count it up for you at 12 and defend. So, really good for us.”
“He’s an abrasive player, and he can generally get past the first chop tackle with the way the game’s gone, everybody’s got to put a low tackle in, really. So it does open the game up a little bit for the offload, and he’s got that upper body strength to get past and do that.”
“He’s (Joe Davis) very, very good. He’s keen lad. History shows for teams I put together, if you’re good enough, you’re young enough. I don’t know whether he’s good enough at this moment in time to start, but he’s certainly going to gain some experience by sitting behind Sam Stuart and getting 10, 15 minutes where he can. He’s got pace and he’s got a great pass, which are the basic rudiments you want, to be a top player in this competition.”
“There was a lack of understanding of what we were trying to do in the Premiership. I always think that whether it’s finding a player like Sam Arnold who nobody’s looking at and you bring him in and he flourishes, or Connor Doherty or Tom Gordon. Tom Gordon, incidentally, was the top tackler last week in the league and hit most rucks. Who is he? The league have never heard of him, that’s the way it goes. We find people.”
Davis is one of the youngest players in the Falcons camp, as at just 18-years-old he is progressing at an impressive rate. Davis was brought into the squad from the Falcons pathway at Barnard Castle School, which is the same institution overseen by newly appointed Newcastle Falcons Skills Coach Lee Dixon. A graduate of the Falcons academy in his own right, Dixon spent most of his playing career in Northampton but is now back up in the North.
“So Lee Dixon, I recruited him for Northampton a long time ago, when I did the recruiting for Jim Mallinder. He (Lee Dixon) came from Newcastle, he ended up getting 17 or 18 caps and was an absolute pain in the a*** to play against.
“Hundreds of games for Northampton, won the comp (Premiership) with Northampton. Heineken Cup Final with Northampton, and he’s now in a school, Barnard Castle, which is a wonderful school in the area. Why would we not use his knowledge and experience, with Joe Davies, for example, who’s 18 years of age, at training.
“So that’s what he does. He comes in, talks about tactics with the squad, talks about how to play. It works really well with him sharing the role, he’s got a future as a coach.”
There is bountiful young talent within the Falcons ranks, and Diamond’s ambition is to have a home grown squad prospering in the Premiership within the next five years. With the likes of Ben Redshaw tearing up trees as a U20 World Championship winner, and Ajay Edwards recently announced to participate in an England Pathway specialist backs camp, the future looks bright for the young flying Falcons.
“Hopefully I put him (Ben Redshaw) on the bench at the weekend. And under the new PGP (Professional Game Partnership), we’ve got to manage these England players. He’s a potential England player. He’s electric, he looks like a piece of spaghetti!
“There’s nothing on him, but he reminds me of a fallback we had at Newcastle called (Simon) Hammersley about seven or eight years ago. Brilliant line break under the high ball, really looking forward to getting him into the team. He’s on the bench and will feature (against Harlequins).
Whilst bringing through the teenage talents will take Diamond some time, he has a more immediate plan in getting his top England hopefuls game-time on the Test match stage. Diamond wants to see more from his England fringe players, who have been amongst recent training camps but unable to get a place in match day 23s or touring squads.
England’s rejuvenated ‘A’ side has been a useful avenue for the Falcons, since the former Saxons squad was brought back for a Test match against Portugal last February. The ‘A’ team will be back in action in November, with Diamond hoping to see some of his England bolters run out at the Twickenham Stoop against an incoming Australia A side.
“I think there are (Adam) Radwan, Callum Chick, (Jamie) Blamire, just to mention three outstanding players. I know for a fact because I was in a similar position 14 or 15, years ago, at Sale where people were worried they weren’t getting picked (for England) because of the position of Sale at the time.
“That’s not true if the dialog with the national coaches is as good as I’ve always had it then, you can see a gem in whatever environment they’re playing in. The lads have just got to play well for Newcastle to get that recognition.”
“The England management, Steve Borthwick’s been up. Mark Mapletoft, the U20s coach has been up. In fact, I don’t know whether we’re doing something right or wrong that they’ve all been up so far! I think it’s good that they do, and they are voting with their feet let’s say, they’re coming up, and we have regular dialog, and all of that seems very well. I think we just need to win some games.”
Taking a moment to step away from the exhaustive ongoings of organising a Premiership rugby club, Diamond let the reporting media briefly peak behind the curtain into a recent Falcons team social. The Director of Rugby explained how the players and staff recently held a talent show, and whilst no video or photo evidence exists, it was by all accounts quite the humorous team bonding exercise.
“Steve Diamond talent shows are infamous, and one of the rules of the talent show is that everybody has to put the phone in a bin when we go into it, so there can never be any evidence! Which is always in good humour, generally taking the mick out of me if I’m honest.”
“What’s mine (talent)? Oh, various. I’m available for weddings, funerals, bar mitzvahs. I do magic, sing, dance, you name it. It would be a country song, maybe Luke Combs, or maybe back a bit further with Kenny Rogers, but I can strum a guitar and sing a country song no dramas.”