Falcons v Irish: The Cup
By Mally (20/12/02)
December 20 2002
Of all the teams to play either side of Christmas, London Irish has to be one of the best. Their fans are making the long journey north on the "Champagne Express" to see Irish begin their defence of the Powergen Cup. Whatever the result, it's guaranteed that the post match party will be a good one!
And I'm hoping that Falcons fans will have something celebrate. While much has been said about the need to concentrate on Premiership survival, Falcons need to build on last weekend's fantastic win.
Hopefully the sound thrashing of Treviso, described in Dion Castle's match report as possibly Falcons' best performance of the season, has boosted the team's confidence and will be the start of a long winning streak and Zurich Premiership survival.
When you're in the bottom spot you have to play every league match as if it's a cup match. Well this is a cup match which needs to be fought for, as we need to maintain the momentum from last weekend.
It's an important game for another reason, as all eyes will no doubt be firmly fixed on new signings Mark Mayerhofler and Craig Newby, who make their Falcons' debuts this weekend. It will be interesting to see how well they fit in, and what they bring to the team. Talking to
www.rugbyrugby.com Mayerhofler seems ready for his Falcons'debut:
"I watched them play against Treviso in the Parker Pen Cup on Saturday, and they won well, playing some bloody good rugby. I wasn't eligible for that competition, but I can't wait to play against London Irish this weekend. It's been great so far, everyone has made me feel welcome, but I won't really feel part of it until I get on the field and get my feet on the grass."
So can we win the two games? Rob Andrew thinks we can.
"We’ve got two very interesting games against Irish, first this weekend in the Powergen Cup and then away next weekend in the Premiership. Both games will be tight, they make life difficult and are a hard working side but we’re capable of winning both games"
After last weekend, when before the match Rob stood in the South Stand bar confidently telling Doubting Thomas (ok a Doubting Mally) that Falcons would win by 20 points, I'm not going to contradict him!
Why not? Well I agree with Rob we can win these two games. In some ways London Irish are a lot like Newcastle Falcons - when they're good they're very good, but when they're bad they're dire. As mentioned in
The Craic - fans site match preview London Irish know they've already beaten us at home this season. However that day we didn't play the way we did last weekend. Falcons have to forget about the previous ZP game - it's irrelevent. All that matters now are future games, and those should be taken one at a time.
At this level success in sport is as much about the mind games and confidence as fitness and skill. I firmly believe that Falcons are as good as, if not better than, many of the other Premiership teams. If Falcons play like they did against Treviso last weekend there is no reason why we can not win on Sunday and then again next weekend.
Newcastle Falcons Team
15 Jamie Noon, 14 Liam Botham, 13 Tom May, 12 Mark Mayerhofler, 11 Joe Shaw, 10 Phil Godman,
9 Hall Charlton, 1 Ian Peel, 2 Nick Makin, 3 Marius Hurter, 4 Craig Hamilton, 5 Stuart Grimes, 6 Jon Dunbar, 7 Phil Dowson, 8 Hugh Vyvyan
Replacements:
James Grindal, Mark Wilkinson, James Christian, Micky Ward, Epi Taione, Craig Newby, TBC
London Irish Team
15 Michael Horak, 14 Justin Bishop, 13 Nick Burrows, 12 Brendan Venter, 11 Paul Sackey, 10 Barry Everitt, 9 Darren Edwards, 1 Mike Worsley, 2 Naka Drotske, 3 Rob Hardwick, 4 Ryan Strudwick (Captain), 5 Nick Kennedy, 6 Paul Gustard, 7 Declan Danaher, 8 Chris Sheasby
Replacements:
Hentie Martens, Mark Mapletoft, 18 Kieron Dawson, 19 Richard Kirke, 20 Glenn Delaney, 21 Neal Hatley, 22 Simon Halford
The Treviso Thrashing - the best performance of the season?
Photo courtesy of Newcastle Falcons.
