Chance for Falcons to sign off in style

Apr 15 2009 by Nick Purewal, The Journal

THE relegation battle seems an age away, but Alan Tait has admitted his first Kingston Park objective was to keep Newcastle Falcons in the Premiership.

Former British Lion and Great Britain Rugby League international Tait swapped Scotland for the North East in the summer, and he told The Journal the first thing on his mind was to make the side strong enough to beat the drop.

It took the Falcons until that 35-3 win at Bristol to kick their season into gear, but after that, the turnaround took hold. Falling short of European Challenge Cup progression on Sunday at Saracens, though, the Falcons floundered at Vicarage Road, looking more than a little jaded.

With two Premiership ties left to contest, the Falcons entertain Bath at Kingston Park on Sunday (kick-off 3.45pm) where a win would sustain their outside chances of Heineken Cup qualification.

Thanks to Cardiff beating Toulouse, seventh spot in the Premiership offers Heineken Cup rugby – but Tait does not see that as the chief motivation this weekend.

“It’s been well-publicised that there are a number of players who are leaving this summer, so Sunday’s game is a chance for them to sign off in style,” said Tait.

“They are all proud men, proud players and have been proud representatives of the club, so they will definitely want to go out with a bang in front of the home fans. And for all the players who are staying and the coaches, we want to sign off in some style, too. When I came in during the summer, the first objective I set down was to avoid relegation. That had to be the starting point, and this term really anything else was a bonus.

“The big win at Bristol turned things round and made people start to believe, and since then we have been doing well. But to a certain extent against Saracens, the lads had shot their bolt a little – all the things we have done that have helped us be successful in terms of defence we failed to execute and it cost us.

“We have made a lot of progress this season and that’s pleasing, but there is still a long way to go. We could sneak into the Heineken Cup if we finished seventh, and while you never turn something like that down, we also have to be realistic and understand we are still a fair way off the likes of Munster and Toulouse. The Heineken Cup is the pinnacle of club rugby and there is a real difference in standard.

“The best teams have the ability to go up through the gears when it matters most, look at Munster against the Ospreys at the weekend. We are at the stage now where we can beat teams in the regular weeks and see them off when they are going about their business, but the problem comes when some of those teams know it is time to raise their level.

“They do that and we can’t live with them. We do have quite a small squad at the moment with the various injuries and we will have a compact squad next year, but hopefully in that squad we will have more quality. Also I want us to increase the number of academy players that come and train with us full-time.”