Newcastle Falcons - 2019 to 2020 Championship - Closed

First topic message reminder :

Manager: Dean Richards
Head Coach: Dave Walder
Forwards Coach: Micky Ward
Defence Coach: Nick Easter
Attack Coach: Dave Walder
Lineout Coach: Scott Macleod
Skills Coach: Mark Laycock

Current Squad:
Forwards
Props:
LH - Sam Lockwood, Adam Brocklebank, Trevor Davison,
Conrad Cade (Senior Academy), Phil Brantingham (Senior Academy)
TH - Rodney Ah You, Logo Mulipola, Mark Tampin, Mike Daniels,
Oscar Caudle  TH(Senior Academy & Tynedale)

Hookers: Kyle Cooper, George McGuigan, Jamie Blamire, Charlie Maddison

Second Rows: Sean Robinson, Darren Barry, Toby Salmon, Greg Peterson,
Will Montgomery (Senior Academy), Freddie Lockwood (Senior Academy), Bailey Ransom (Senior Academy)

Back Row:
6&7's: Mark Wilson, Will Welch, Gary Graham, Jon Hardie,
Guy Graham (Senior Academy), Rob Farrar (Senior Academy), Josh Basham (Senior Academy), Harry Hill (Senior Academy),
8: Philip van der Walt, Nemani Negusa, Calum Chick,
Tom Marshall (Senior Academy), Charlie Richards (Senior Academy & Tynedale)

Backs
SH's: Micky Young, Sam Stuart
Callum Pascoe (Senior Academy & Tynedale), Cameron Nordi Kelemeti (Senior Academy), James Elliott (Senior Academy)

Fh's: Joel Hodgson, Toby Flood, Brett Connon, Tim Swiel, Joel Matavesi
Will Haydon Wood (Senior Academy & Tynedale)

Centres: Matias Orlandi, Gareth Owen, Ben Stevenson, George Wacokecoke,
Charlie Wilson (Senior Academy - At Durham UNi)), Chidera Obonna (Senior Academy)

Wing: Sinoti Sinoti , Adam Radwan, Cooper Vuna
Morgan Passman (Senior Academy),

FB's: Alex Tait, Tom Arscott,

Players unconfirmed:
Seb De Chaves - Only has a one year deal
Jon Welsh - Injuries mean he hasnt played for nearly 2 years.
Connor Collett - has he signed permanently for Doncaster

GeordieFalcon wrote:Start of a decent Scottish side...

1
2
3 Welsh
4 Young
5 Davidson
6 Guy Graham
7 John Hardie
8 Gary Graham

9 Rauri Dawson (I'm sure he's Scottish)
10
11
12
13 Harris
14
15

Dawson is SQ, he played U20s for us. Add Williams in at 12 and we really are getting there.

I believe they Falcons academy have been looking at a very talented 17 year old from Hawick (the next one off the conveyor belt maybe) Andrew Mitchel, who is tearing it up in the Scottish Premiership. George Graham is still coaching Hawick and maybe has recommended him. He was not in the Scottish system until recently, but it looks like they have cottoned onto him now as we was playing for the Edinburgh u20s side last week, which is still pretty impressive for a 17 year old.

What position is Mitchell?

I'd prefer not to add Williamson to that line-up...he ha.

GeordieFalcon wrote:What position is Mitchell?

I'd prefer not to add Williamson to that line-up...he ha.

He is a centre as well. Looks a pretty solid lad for a 17 year old

GeordieFalcon wrote:What position is Mitchell?

I'd prefer not to add Williamson to that line-up...he ha.

Yeah Williams really should be in England's thoughts going forward. Very good young centre.

He's really impressed me Sam even just the short spell he's been here...

Seems a complete player.. in the sense he can run extremely well , makes breaks , passes well , is a strong tackler and can do the crash ball aswell.
See how he has gone by the end of the season.

Yeah I was disappointed how far north he went, I was hoping he'd stop in the East Midlands. Solid player but knows how to find a gap.

formerly known as Sam wrote:Yeah I was disappointed how far north he went, I was hoping he'd stop in the East Midlands. Solid player but knows how to find a gap.

Perhaps he wanted to be as near as he could to Scotland

Or that he wanted to be under a manager who excels at bringing through talented youth...

GeordieFalcon wrote:Or that he wanted to be under a manager who excels at bringing through talented youth...

That is probably accurate. Big changes now with Geordie at the helm. Lots of game time for the young guns.

That can only be Good For Leicester and England as well Sam.

GeordieFalcon wrote:That can only be Good For Leicester and England as well Sam.

Hopefully the only way is up. Be difficult to get much worse than what we have been recently.

Falcons could help matters along if they can keep Scotland from pinching all the talent they are developing. Far too many southerners in the England pack at the minute.

Really liked that five (Welsh, Davidson, Young, Graham, Hardie) of the thirteen forwards picked in the rugby cup were SQ'd. Scotland could do with a 3rd side...

On a more serious note will Guy Graham get a look in soon? Looked good in the u20 World Cup.

We last won the league with an incredible Scottish contingent.....

Guy Graham will get time when he's ready. One thing Dean certainly doesn't do is rush kids in. He's give them a bit of time here and there in cups etc aswell as playing for their "loan club". Im not sure which club Guy is actually playing for at the moment...Tynedale or Blaydon etc.

But Guy has a lot of young competition for the "junior" gametime...
Uzokwe is coming on nicely, Connor Collet got big reviews in NZ, Tom Marshall has played in a few of the cup games and performed very well, and Rob Farrar got a run out in one of the cup games as well…

When you consider hes then got Welch, Wilson, his brother, Burrows (whos really coming good) , Calum Chick (whos making that 8 spot his own with some awesome performances) Negusa a Fijian international back rower and finally the newly signed and top class international player Jon Hardie to get ahead of ….he'll have to be patient.
Falcons back row options are scary.

So Tom Penny out for the season with ANOTHER ACL (his other leg this time)

And Joel Hodgson possibly out for the season. Unknown..if its a leg break or an ACL.
Rumours flying at the moment.

Jeez....and another prop signed. We've went from having 3 good props to about 6!

Joel Hodgson confirmed with Broken leg. Operation on Friday.

Team for Friday

15 Simon Hammersley
14 Tom Arscott
13 Chris Harris
12 Johnny Williams
11 Sinoti Sinoti
10 Toby Flood (captain)
9 Sam Stuart

1 Sam Lockwood
2 Kyle Cooper
3 Jon Welsh
4 Calum Green
5 Glen Young
6 Gary Graham
7 John Hardie
8 Nemani Nagusa

Replacements
16 George McGuigan
17 Adam Brocklebank
18 David Wilson
19 Andrew Davidson
20 Ryan Burrows
21 Michael Young
22 Brett Connon
23 Pedro Bettencourt

Bath Rugby

15 Tom Homer
14 Semesa Rokoduguni
13 Jackson Willison
12 Jamie Roberts
11 Cooper Vuna
10 Freddie Burns
9 Will Chudley
1 Nathan Catt
2 Tom Dunn
3 Henry Thomas
4 Dave Attwood
5 Matt Garvey (captain)
6 Tom Ellis
7 Josh Bayliss
8 Zach Mercer
Replacements

16 Jack Walker
17 Jacques van Rooyen
18 Max Lahiff
19 Luke Charteris
20 Levi Douglas
21 Chris Cook
22 Ruaridh McConnochie
23 Darren Atkins

Got to win this one. Far from the best Bath side out and they don't often travel well up here, c'mon boys!

Its a must win in my eyes...but im not confident.

We need a massive game

Jeez what an utterly awful game so far. Game is dull, crowds silent...

It was a win though

It was indeed...it was a must win game really...so ill take an ugly win.

Fair play to Newcastle but Bath wtf changes need to happen, great group of players being wasted by poor managment and coaching, enough is enough.

Dean has just mentioned our injuries...

Kyle Cooper out injured
Sean Robinson broke his arm last week
Joel Hodgson has a broken leg
Will Witty long term knee injury
Mark Wilson ear infection
Will Welch long term knee injury
Michael Young broken cheekbone
Josh Matavesi long term ankle injury
Negussa leg injury
Mitch injured
Jon Welsh out long term again
Tom Penny acl injury
Paul Mullen out injured

Scary... .

Oh my....

It's like watching paint dry....

Where the attacking flair, fast paced rugby...

Its utter tosh

Well I cant see anything other than us going down.

GeordieFalcon wrote:Well I cant see anything other than us going down.

Oh I dont know. still extremely tight at the bottom. Potential win away to Bristol, they struggle to unlock a tight defence as seen against Sale yesterday.
You got a losing bonus point today so not the end of the world but not what you want when at the bottom.

Still think we need to watch Bristol, a long way to go and sides are starting to work them out better now (Leicester aside).

But Gliucester were poor today...error strewn.we couldn't even beat them.

We look devoid of any kind of invention in attack.

Toby flood is not earning his considerable wage..though hes not being helped by a lack of support by his fellow backline.

I trust that now the bottom three are Newcastle, Worcester and Bristol all the talk about ringfencing will die away ?

GeordieFalcon wrote:But Gliucester were poor today...error strewn.we couldn't even beat them.

We look devoid of any kind of invention in attack.

Toby flood is not earning his considerable wage..though hes not being helped by a lack of support by his fellow backline.

Being hindered by Williams injury? He's looked excellent for you guys straightening the line and offloading.

Ah Sam one person should not make all the difference.

People are standing still taking the ball, not creating space, slow ponderous and we are just moving the ball side to side. Its awful. The amount of times I heard the comment..." what is the attack coach doing with them in training" was a lot.

Poor Goneva ran his socks off coming in to get the ball because everytime he got it he had 6 men on him. ....

The one time we did actually play ...was when Hammerlsey broke the line and we scored a try.

Apparently Joel Hodgson is in a seriously bad way. Talk is that they don't expect him to recover, he's had bone grafts and all sorts.

The other alarming story I heard at the game is that we actually have one of the highest wage bills in the league. Now a few of us dismissed that as rubbish, but im going to check.

Also mixed rumours that Calum Chick has not signed a new contract and is being chased by a few teams. Might just be agent talks though to get a better deal.

Irish Londoner wrote:I trust that now the bottom three are Newcastle, Worcester and Bristol all the talk about ringfencing will die away ?

We should ring fence it now this season and be done with it...

Tigers are being linked with raids on our northern academy. Could be agent talk as our name gets bandied around a lot when contract talks aren't progressing as agents would like.

We are due a clear out though with several first team forwards supposedly moving on.

Yeah we might have a bit of a clear out ourselves SAm...

I wouldn't be surprised to see some of the following heading out of the door.

Forwards
Props:
TH - Davy Wilson - Just past it now. Injury ridden and will be on a big salary!,
Paul Mullen - cheerio,
Rodney (Who) Ah You - Good Bye.

Second Rows: Tevita Cavubati - No better than our young locks, who have way more potential

Back Row: Ryan Burrows - Never been the player we hoped he was when we signed him
Jon Hardie - Only a loan signing, doubtful it will be made permanent.

Backs
SH's: Micky Young - Just a woeful player, and wont be cheap
Fh's: Joel Hodgson - All accounts are his injury is serious.
Toby Flood - Looks a shadow of the player we know, retirement rumours flying about already
Joel Matavesi - Doesn't look much

Centres: Dom Waldouck - A wasted salary

Wing: Zac Kibirige - Seemingly not going to make it now

FB': Cameron Cowell - Probably back to the 7's

Floody will be 34 come the start of next season. He's bit getting any younger. Unsurprised he's looking at retirement.

We might be interested in Hardie with rumours Brendan O'Connor is off to Japan. I think Sarries are more likely to swoop for him though.

I hope the Green rumours are true.

Not to fussed about the Chick one, good player though.

GeordieFalcon wrote:Centres: Dom Waldouck - A wasted salary

I thought Waldouck had moved onto captaining Oxford Uni and studying?

Wouldn't argue with the second part from Falcons perspective though. Sadly injury ruined what was a very promising career there.

Welly wrote: I hope the Green rumours are true.

Not to fussed about the Chick one, good player though.

Calum Green? Coming to you guys? No way.

Deans number one name on the team sheet.

GeordieFalcon wrote:

Welly wrote: I hope the Green rumours are true.

Not to fussed about the Chick one, good player though.

Calum Green? Coming to you guys? No way.

Deans number one name on the team sheet.

Could be that he wants to move closer to home. He played alongside much of the coaching staff so there could be good relationships there.

From a rugby perspective he'd be making a risk moving away from Deanos coaching and first name on the team sheet.

I'd take him in a heartbeat but Tigers are linked to everyone given the recruitment needs such improvement. Hard to know if there's anything in it.

In other news... Falcons academy wing George Wacokecoke may have my favourite name in rugby.

I wish with all my heart to see the Kingston Park crowd perform a version of the hokey cokey when he makes his debut.

Ha ha yeah...he's actually a Fijian Fly Half KingC, who has been getting exposure to the teams from the wing. Looks a good prospect.

Yeah Green going to Tigers does make total sense, and what an addition to the club he would be. Slaters replacement essentially.

We have some real quality second rows coming through...but its clear now that losing Vickers, Latu, Hogg and Lawson in one go...has caused us huge experience gaps, and whether Dean would accept losing yet more is doubtful.

GeordieFalcon wrote:Ha ha yeah...he's actually a Fijian Fly Half KingC, who has been getting exposure to the teams from the wing. Looks a good prospect.

Yeah Green going to Tigers does make total sense, and what an addition to the club he would be. Slaters replacement essentially.  

We have some real quality second rows coming through...but its clear now that losing Vickers, Latu, Hogg and Lawson in one go...has caused us huge experience gaps, and whether Dean would accept losing yet more is doubtful.

There's something inherently brilliant about Fijian players commonly not caring about positions. Niki Goneva plays exactly the same way regardless of whether he's on either wing or 13. Peceli Yato has played centre and wing for Clermont.

Is Andrew Davidson back with you guys yet GF? He briefly went back to Glasgow but thought it was on loan. He always looked a good talent.

We are in serious trouble.

Who the feck is in charge of our attack!! They are not earning their money.

Static, boring , predictable, side to side crap!!

Defence wins games but if you dont score tries you don't win.

Awful stuff once again.

What on earth are they doing through the week.

How is Logo doing?

Logo started then went off injured again.

GeordieFalcon wrote:Who the feck is in charge of our attack!! They are not earning their money.

Dave Walder?