Falcons show a glimpse of what could be

In a lecture in 1988 (and probably in others he's done), Brian Tracy told a group of life insurance salesmen: "If you live every day, every hour, the best you can, the rest will take care of itself."    

I remembered that line this morning when thinking back to yesterday's game. People have said that it was a joy watching the Falcons play with verve and freedom, with no pressure, and obviously the reply was there for all to see. So why can't we do it more often?

Well, for one thing, everything in our attack just seemed to click yesterday. The lineout and maul were effective, the scrum was dominant, and Tom Catterick linked excellently with his centres. Alesana Tuilagi and Mike Blair had their best games in Falcons shirts, I thought.

As the dominant team for most of the game, we didn't need to defend so much, but I think we tended to keep Harlequins on the gain line for a lot of the time.

So what does this have to do with that quote by Brian Tracy? Well, I wonder if it wouldn't serve the Falcons well to just forget about the scoreline, forget about the need to win games, as far as is possible, and just concentrate on doing what needs to be done in each section of the game.

In some ways, rugby is a simple sport. Score as many points as you can, concede as few as you can, and the rest will take care of itself. Obviously both of those principles involve complex tactics and analysis to make sure you do them properly, and we need to be adaptable when things aren't working. But maybe if we just thought about scoring as many points as we can and conceding as few as we can, we'd feel less pressure and just do what comes naturally.

There is no point having creative players like Catterick and JP Socino on the pitch if you're going to stifle them, but yesterday showed what is possible when they re given licence to play. It won't work every time, but at least when we lose it'll not be for the want of a more effective game plan.

I hope that all made sense.

As I said, yesterday everything clicked and we saw the performance that Dean Richards and pals have been working to create all season. It was a great show, a brilliant win, and has sent everyone into the summer smiling. My sincere hope is that, regardless of circumstances, we keep doing the same thing next season, playing to score tries and win games. It's great to watch, gets us more points, and is just better for everyone concerned.

The league table shows that we have not climbed any higher than last season, and certainly we are 11th so we deserve to be 11th. But underneath that, I think there has been real progress in the past year.

Thanks for reading everyone, have a great summer and see you for 2015/16!!