What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.

Very powerful pack. That back row is tough.

Plenty of creativity in the backs...ill be watching Mr Flood closely. This is a game he should be dominating...

The return of Luke Eves ! Hope he gets a cheer , did alright for us i thought during a very tough time.

Decent line up for us, looking forward to it !

Good line up
Montgomery starting catches the eye

I think one of our problems last season was not moving the ball quickly enough through 9-10-12
and opposition back row were able create a bottleneck which left our wingers with no space, and supporters hoping for an individual piece of brilliance.
We have been told about pre season training being about pace so hopefully we will see it on the pitch tonight.That short looped pass from 10 for 12 to take the ball into the tackle just didn’t work, so let’s see Radwan and Sinotti with the ball in their hands with space to use their pace and side-step.Mix it up a bit and let’s see a convincing win.COYF.

Last week was by all accounts a disappointment but London Scottish away is a different proposition to Hartpury at home. Add to that some bigger beasts in the forwards and I predict a win by a big margin tonight.
It would be nice if opponents can be encouraged into a losing mentality before the game starts. We can do this by putting teams to the sword early in the season.
Last weeks visit to London was the only one I have missed so far and I remain marginally encouraged overall.

For me it will be interesting to see how Nagusa goes at No.8. I thought last season he was ponderous, his ball handling skills left a lot to be desired and he was a penalty machine. I hope that he has had good preseason and now goes on to prove me wrong for having doubts.

30 mins gone and im sorry but they are a poor side...and we look absolutely clueless and toothless in attack.

Awful



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2019:10:18:20:28:57 by GeordieFalcon.

Radwan try was worth the admission fee

Quite a few errors in large patches of the game. But when the lads clicked looked very dangerous. Starting to play a few more phases in our own 22 before putting boot to ball which is a slight change from last season. Set piece dominance so can’t complain about that.

Very much like the team selection so far this season. Players with regular Prem experience with a smattering of academy boys like Montgomery etc. I think we will see different lads given regular Opportunities to mingle with the “seniors”. What’s good is Dean hasn’t gone too heavy with selecting the young lads .... balance is key!

Yeah Radwan try was awesome. Lad has bags of potential!

I must have been watching a different game to Smithy's match report because the Falcons were incredibly shoddy with the ball in hand for most of the game. Inaccurate passing, knock-ons, going from side to side, taking the ball standing still, support either not there or not used. There was also some awful kicking from hand. The performance was much worse than against Doncaster.

A better performance from last week and 5 points secured
Not quite sure why we seem to want the backs to have all the ball, let the forwards plough for a few yards from time to time
Last week he weather was poor so I gave the line out the benefit of the doubt but today the weather was no excuse and it still malfunctioned too regularly
The scrum was incrediblely strong and gave us good platform to play off even when it wasn’t our put in
Defence was solid
Plenty room for improvement but getting there

Quote:

alas
I must have been watching a different game to Smithy's match report because the Falcons were incredibly shoddy with the ball in hand for most of the game. Inaccurate passing, knock-ons, going from side to side, taking the ball standing still, support either not there or not used. There was also some awful kicking from hand. The performance was much worse than against Doncaster.

I agree.
I was was scratching my head about what has improved since the last game of last season....and couldnt think of anything

Having had a good look at the squad in the program on my way home plus reflecting on what I saw tonight it seems to me that we have an immense set of forwards. As already commented on we should use all that power up front to dominate teams. And only then set the backs free. Tonight we seemed far too eager to throw the ball about early on and deep in our own half. Can't do that down in Cornwall next week as they'll punish our mistakes.

Whilst it wasn’t a top notch performance by any stretch and was riddled with errors. We need to work on all aspects of our game and the only way to do that effectively is by doing it in competition. We could have went against Hartpury with any game plan/style tonight and still comfortably won.

This match wasn’t next week in Cornwall. It was tonight at Kingston Park.

Started and ended very strongly with some very average patches in the middle.

We really need to work on passing and handling as well as our lineout which looked shakey to be kind.

Also, we need to calm down a bit when running with the ball. Not everything needs to be offloaded and it's not a sign of defeat to go down after a tackle.

Saying that though our pack was outstanding and the kicking game is night and day from last season.

Apart from a fantastic try from Radwan and a huge 50 minutes or so from Rodney Ah You I found it difficult to generate any enthusiasm and a big improvement will be needed to get anything from the Pirates next week.

No flow to the game. The delays at scrum time an line outs need to be minimised if our tempo and conditioning is to benefit us. Ah you was outstanding.
I think that our creativity is a problem. I am sorry to say it but this is Floods last season we need to work hard now on Hodgson and another 10. Radwan scored another Radwan try and Stevenson finished very impressively on both occasions.
We certainly did not put in a performance as dominant as the score line. The majority of the second half belonged to Hartpury. We were ok but no better than that.

Stevenson was an offload away from a brilliant hat trick. Wacokecoke was lovely too and still think was unforgivable not giving him and Radwan chances to freshen our attack last season

Agree wholeheartedly re Radwan Steve. Wasn’t there so can’t comment on the performance although 5 points with seemingly an iffy display is a decent return to be fair. Find a few of the comments worrying however, after a long close season we really shouldn’t need to work on anything, it should have been done to death in training and we should have been able to hit the ground running.

It seems our management reviewed last season, identified the problems and decided that our attacking tactics wasn’t one of them.
That was dire. Attack is still based around individual breaks. Basic skills lacking.
Got home from the match and watched Bristol, and the difference in attacking play, basic skills and ambition is monstrous. We look like 15 blokes who met in the changing room before kick off.

Biggest sign we haven’t changed tactics- Matavesi, having not been in preseason, can come straight in at 12. He knows the plan- kick it, pass it to a slow moving forward or slowly pass it along the line until your wing either makes a break or gets thumped.

And still playing Flood at 10... I’m sure Hodgson and Cam N-K are likely to develop well when they get 2 minutes at the end of the match.

Smithy, is Josh Hodge injured? (No worries if you can’t say)

Yes

Telfs

You pretty much summed up how i and many people around me felt last night.

I wasn’t at the game but the majority of comments are worrying. It seems that we are sticking to the same principles that didn’t work last season to get back to the Premiership.

We should and most likely will go up this season but how are we going to evolve into a Premiership side if it’s the same coaching staff that are frankly not prepared to change?

Another 5 point win for the Pirates today so the Falcons will have to be a lot better next week.

Next weeks opponents Pirates away to Doncaster won 25 -44 that's two bonus point wins and a huge improvement needed to get get anything at cornwall next week.

Also refreshing from the Bristol game was Pat Lam. Open and honest chat about the team, what went well, what didn’t, with some tactical breakdown and good humour, information on injuries. You can see why Bristol have a freedom when they play. There seems to be a no blame culture-the opposite of Falcons where Deano’s culture is blame everyone except me.

And I don’t understand people saying “oh it’s good we didn’t throw too many kids out there”. Bristol had an 18 year old on the bench and several young players on the field. Northampton played multiple young players last season and to start this. Other teams will do the same. I have zero faith Deano has a clue what he’s doing with the likes of Nordli-Kelemeti, Obonna, Passman, Stevenson, Pascoe and Hodge.

Telfs, yes, Josh has been injured pretty much all summer.

To back up your last point Telfs, Marcus Smith at Quins was playing Premiership rugby at 18/19 in one on the most pivotal positions on the field, can’t ever see that happening to us unfortunately.

Quote:

Exiled Falcon
To back up your last point Telfs, Marcus Smith at Quins was playing Premiership rugby at 18/19 in one on the most pivotal positions on the field, can’t ever see that happening to us unfortunately.

Out of curiosity who from our academy would you play in the first team and ahead of which established player?

Given that Blamire and Montgomery have started league games this season I think Dean is looking to rotate the squad and give youth a chance

Last season Radwan was behind Goneva, Sinoti and arguably Kibirige. The issues wasn’t always the wingers not being good enough it was the supply they received

Radwan has proved he will score whether he receives service or not. Got the feeling no matter how well he did he wouldn’t get a string of games. In fact I could say that about both him and Kibirige, they never looked like they would get a good run. (Just my opionion FD).

Again, maybe I’m wrong but if we had Smith for instance in the same circumstances I just couldn’t see him being our first choice 10 at that age and size. Again, just my opinion.

As for giving youth a chance, if he’s not doing it this season he never will, so it shouldn’t be a surprise the likes of Monty and Blamire getting a run out, you could maybe argue Blamire should have had more exposure last season or two.

Quote:

Falc Dancer

Quote:

Exiled Falcon
To back up your last point Telfs, Marcus Smith at Quins was playing Premiership rugby at 18/19 in one on the most pivotal positions on the field, can’t ever see that happening to us unfortunately.

Out of curiosity who from our academy would you play in the first team and ahead of which established player?

Given that Blamire and Montgomery have started league games this season I think Dean is looking to rotate the squad and give youth a chance

Last season Radwan was behind Goneva, Sinoti and arguably Kibirige. The issues wasn’t always the wingers not being good enough it was the supply they received

Last season when Goneva/Sinoti were injured we regularly played Arscott/Tait on the wing.

My point is most specifically related to the progression of this season. We want to get to the end of the season with multiple young players as key parts of our team. Specifically the key areas there for us are 9,10, centre and 15. I have zero faith that will happen. For example I wouldn’t be surprised if by the end of the season Josh Hodge has 1-2 starts. Right now I’d have Cam N-K starting at 9, Hodgson at 10, Haydon-Wood on the bench for multiple games (home v Hartbury is a lovely time to give a young Guy their first game time).

I think we’d all prefer to get to next season with a backline that has played together a lot, with high basic skills, pace and tactically astute.
We could launch into the premiership (hopefully) with our backs squad depth as

Cam N-K/Pascoe/Takalua
Hodgson/Haydon Wood

Sinoti/Passman
Williams (health obviously as a priority) Wilson/Stevenson
Wacokecoke/Obonna
Radwan
Hodge

Radwan might score tries but his defence lets him down at times. He wouldn’t get the space in the Premiership that he had on Fri night to score. Premiership defences are too well drilled

Nordi-Kelemeti does look a talent but Stuart has looked really sharp this season and doesn’t deserve to miss out based upon form

I feel if Dean threw in the likes of Nordii-Kelemeti, Hayden-Wood and we lost then he’d get it in the neck. He can’t win

We need a balance of youth and experience, it’s a long season and promotion is the most important thing
There’s plenty time for Hodge (registered at DMP this season) and alike once the season settles down and we get some points on the board

There’s been a lot said about Charlie Wilson over the last 2 years but he’s behind the likes of Wacokecoke who’s been superb this season. Having them both in would be a mistake and leave us light on experience and size. Matavesi alongside Wacokecoke is perfect for his development

Stevenson has also been involved this season and gained some good experience, scored a few tries

Normally the cup would have provided the youth with Ann opportunity to get game time but we used those games as pre season games

Zach scored a couple of tries for Wasps today. The Falcons were the lowest try scorers in the league last season. The Falcons were in dire need of more tries yet Richards rarely played the two wingers most likely to score a try.

Five wins from five, and still so much grief on here. Can we not just look forwards? Just this once? Pretty please!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2019:10:20:17:35:18 by markismith50.

Well said Mark, couldn't agree more.

Absolutely Mark!! However, I don’t think it will ever happen with some posters as they appear to be happy being unhappy (although we must respect everyone’s opinion)
The positive slant on the situation would be that we’ve not really clicked just yet but still won 5 out of 5....surely that puts us in a good place!!

My comment was very much tongue in cheek, just in case it came across as having a pop. I fully accept everyone’s right to post their opinion.

Quote:

markismith50
Five wins from five, and still so much grief on here. Can we not just look forwards? Just this once? Pretty please!

Yes Smithy I agree

Will there be highlights of Fridays game available next week Smithy?

A good win, I did think we could have trucked the ball up with the forwards a bit more to make space for the runners but another win. I guess not having a pre-season means the guys are a bit rusty but still getting the wins.

Falc dancer. Yes, we should be able to do that. It's not me who personally deals with the video output, but I've forwarded the raw footage on to them to edit and upload.

Quote:

markismith50
Falc dancer. Yes, we should be able to do that. It's not me who personally deals with the video output, but I've forwarded the raw footage on to them to edit and upload.

Cheers Smithy
Anything from the Heriots game?

No, nothing from Heriot's.

Hartpury highlights link: [www.newcastlefalcons.co.uk]

Quote:

markismith50
No, nothing from Heriot's.
Hartpury highlights link: [www.newcastlefalcons.co.uk]

Cheers for the link Smithy
Not even a match report for Heriots?

FD, no, the late rescheduling of the Heriot's game regrettably meant we were not able to staff it on this very rare occasion.

Quote:

markismith50
FD, no, the late rescheduling of the Heriot's game regrettably meant we were not able to staff it on this very rare occasion.

Thanks Smithy, nevermind this is understandable

Beat a team 45-7 and people go on like it’s the end of the world. I understand it wasn’t a great performance but there are plenty of positives to take from this. Thought Montgomery had a great game in the row. Scrum looks very strong .... agree own line out needs more accuracy but defensively look sound.

Only so much you can do in training , takes actual full blooded games to try things and especially with a host of new signings/academy players getting starts It will be clunky at times.

Dean isn’t going to put numerous academy players into a league game when it is absolute non negotiable that we get promoted first time round - wouldn’t want to even think about the financial implications of not going back up first time around. Looks like he’s drip feeding the players in a handful at a time - Montgomery this time so wonder who’s turn it’ll be next match.

I think about the midway point we will start seeing some serious rugby being played by the boys.

Quote:

Barry555
Beat a team 45-7 and people go on like it’s the end of the world.

It’s a forum Baz, a vehicle for expressing opinions. It would be really tedious if everyone said we were rubbish just as it would be tedious if everyone said we were great. People who were at the game have expressed their views, some positive, a lot negative. Don’t think I saw anyone say it was the end of the world.

Last year sucked, supporters just want to see glimpses of light, that’s all.

100% agree and I’m not having a go at people sharing their views as you say creates discussion. Suppose I’m just the type to focus on the positives more!

Quote:

Exiled Falcon

Quote:

Barry555
Beat a team 45-7 and people go on like it’s the end of the world.

It’s a forum Baz, a vehicle for expressing opinions. It would be really tedious if everyone said we were rubbish just as it would be tedious if everyone said we were great. People who were at the game have expressed their views, some positive, a lot negative. Don’t think I saw anyone say it was the end of the world.

Last year sucked, supporters just want to see glimpses of light, that’s all.

Totally agree - everybody is entitled to an opinion however naff other people think it might be - my ongoing opinion of Mr Flood is not, for example, universally appreciated (though the best bit of Friday night was watching Joel putting people through gaps with ease - wonder what 80 minutes of that might have looked like?). I am however delighted that Deano is responsible for picking the team rather than some doom mongers on here - but that is just an opinion of course......

How was the attendance? Just watched the highlights and it looks like a fair few souls there, hopefully make it back from work in time for the Jersey game... I hope.

Crowd was 4.2k

If it is any consolation, we (London Irish) were poor at times last season (especially at the start). It is a long season and the key thing is to come up at the first time of asking. It is difficult for the coaches to achieve this essential goal and blood youngsters at the same time. Be patient - there will be time to develop the game plan and bring in the young lads towards the back end of the season once promotion looks more guaranteed.