Steve: My Falcons are up for the Premier challenge

Jan 2 2010 by Nick Purewal, The Journal

THE deep thinker in Steve Bates clearly relishes the Newcastle Falcons challenge, and he also knows it will only get harder in 2010.

It might not be unique, but it certainly has teeth, and the solid progress thus far this term suggests the former Borders boss is getting on top of things.

Everyone everywhere is always making progress in sport though, and the Guinness Premiership is no different.

And when you cannot wield the fattest wallet in the land, you have to find the more innovative cat-skinning solutions.

In the summer just gone that involved recruiting a number of players not perhaps too well celebrated in the wider rugby circles.

Leeds centre Rob Vickerman is probably the best example of one to raise an immediate eyebrow or too with his clean, consistent and dangerous midfield line-breaking.

Bates and Co know what they are looking for and how it will fit, and they are not fussed who else is on the same page because it is just not important.

Already working to stay ahead of the general upward spiral, Bates believes he is building a side that ought to be in a position to be judged fairly on what goes on next season.

That is not to say he is clutching for excuses not be judged right now, he would expect nothing else – he just believes with the second set of building blocks in place the Falcons construction will start to look pretty aesthetically pleasing while also functioning pretty effectively.

When it comes to self-criticism though, so far Bates is pretty pleased with progress this term – but he is far from satisfied.

The rugby director and his fellow coaches might consider the season so far a solid start, but they are desperate to ensure that progress begets further progress.

“I’m pretty pleased with the way most of the new recruits have come on,” said Bates, “in fact I can’t think of anyone who has been really disappointing.

“Injury problems have kept one or two out, but on the whole they have gelled well, they’re working hard and there’s plenty of enthusiasm there.

“All the clubs in the league are striving for the same goals that we are but there are always going to be sides we play who are better resourced than we are. We know full well that’s the environment we operate in and we’ve just got to find ways of being as competitive as possible.

“At this moment in time, are we happy with where we are?

“Yes, we’re pretty happy because we’re just about halfway up the league and we’ve done better in this first half of the season than last year.

“There’s also some disappointment too because we haven’t won as many games as we possibly could have done.

“Are we going to be happy with that situation in every coming season though?

“Much of that will depend on the resourcing level, but we’d sincerely hope not.

“All those things said, in the balance of where we are, I think we can be pretty positive with what’s happening.

“There’ve been some disappointing days this year but there have been some really great days too.

“We just need to keep this group of players hungry and committed and at the moment they are very much in that frame of mind. There’s a lot of good teams above us but a lot of quality below us as well.

“The key thing for us is that we keep focusing on performance and ensuring that as we go forward we stay true to our principals because that’s the way this team will perform best.

“We’ve got to take each game in isolation and just treat each one as another opportunity to put in a good performance.

“But if at the end of the day others do better than us in terms of results then we can’t really do much about that. We’ve just got to concentrate on what we’re doing, work hard to keep moving forward and get as many points as possible.

“There are going to be some tough days ahead and those days may be tougher due to results elsewhere but we can’t influence that so we just have to worry about what we’re doing.

“We’re in a position in the league that suggests that we are competitive, we’ve got to be very positive about this group of players and I think they are a talented group and we’ll see where we are in the summer. At that point we will have had 12 months with a new conditioning regime in place, we’ll have some more additions with any luck and then we’ll be in a better position to judge where this team’s going.”

NEWCASTLE FALCONS (Wasps, Adams Park Sunday 4.30pm): A Tait, G Bobo, R Vickerman, T Tu’ipulotu, C Amesbury, J Gopperth, H Charlton, J Golding, R Vickers, C Hayman (capt), J Hudson, T Swinson, J Afu, B Wilson, F Levi. Replacements: M Thompson, M Ward, G Shiells, M Sorenson, W Welch, C Pilgrim, R Miller, T Biggs.

LONDON WASPS: D Cipriani, T Varndell, D Waldouck, S Kefu, D Lemi, D Walder, M Robinson, T Payne, R Webber, B Broster, S Shaw, G Skivington, J Hart (capt), W Matthews, D Ward-Smith. Replacements: J Ward, S Taulafo, B Baker, M Veale, D Leo, J Honeyben, B Jacobs, M Van Gisbergen.