Newcastle Falcons 2015 / 2016

First topic message reminder :

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

Current Squad (A= Academy):
Forwards
Props:
TH - Taione Vea, Jon Welsh, Scott Wilson, Paddy Ryan, Andrew Foster
LH - Ben Harris, Rob Vickers , Eric Fry, Alex Rogers, Sam Lockwood, Adam Brocklebank (A)

Hookers: Scott Lawson, Ben Sowrey, Kyle Cooper
David Nelson (A), Santiago Socino (A)

Second Rows: Callum Green, Mauritz Botha, Will Witty, Sean Robinson , Evan Olmstead, Nick Civetta, Glen Youngs, Andrew Davidson
Harry Snowdon (A), Josh Williams (A), Max Davies (A),

Back Row: Ally Hogg, Will Welch, Nili Latu, Mark Wilson, Dan Temm, Joshua Chisanga, Harrison Orr, Opeti Fonua, Tyrone Holmes
Joe Craggs (A), Calum Chick (A), Sebastian Ferreira (A), Simon Uzokwe (A)

Backs
SH's: Sonatane Tukulua, Micky Young, Sam Egerton
Dan Taylor (A),  Ruaridh Dawson (A)

Fh's: Tom Catterick, Mike Delaney, Joel Hodgson  
Craig Willis (A), Brett Connon (A)

Centres: Juan Pablo Socino, Adam Powell, Chris Harris,
Adam Redman centre (A), Tom Penny (A)

Wing: Sinoti Sinoti, Marcus Watson, Zac Kibirige, Veriniki Goneva,
Dan Marshall (A)

FB's: Alex Tait, Simon Hammersley
Ed Coulson (A)

Signings for Next Season:
Niki Goneva - Wing (Leicester)
Sam Lockwood - LH Prop (Jersey)
Sam Egerton - SH (7's / Quins)
Harrison Orr - Back Row (Ealing)
Joel Hodgson - 9, 10, 15 (Leeds)
Ben Sowrey - Hooker (Worcester)
Evan Olmstead - Lock (London Scottish)
Opeti Fonua - Back Rower
Nick Civetta - Lock forward
Andrew Davidson (Academy) - Lock Forward
Kyle Cooper - Hooker
Tyrone Holmes - 6/7 - Glasgow

You really are going for our cast offs this year! Harris has not played any AP games as far as I'm aware and is obviously being released from his contract??

And we will have
Ayerza, Logo, Cilliers who can play LH.

Think he will make a decent project IF Genge stays at Bristol.

McGuigan hardly a cast off by Deanos reaction.

Barrow has been a great signing BTW.

No, McGuigan is a good player, he'll do well for you.

Barrow is decent, if he can stay injury free he'll improve.

Barrow is a cracking signing...IF as Sgt says he can stay fit.
Mcguigan will also be a great signing for you I think. Means Thacker can move to 7 and be a hell of a player!

Sgt
I cant work out the Harris one. He was touted the same as Hill. A beast of a LH prop. Hill has gone to Saints and is a 6n grand slam winner....Harris has barely played a game! Maybe he's managed about 1 full game if you calculate his minutes.

I have to be honest...im back to genuinely questioning Dean Richards again now. I think we need fresh coaching from the very top!

I was much more impressed by Barrow at Falcons than I have ever been by McGuigan. Was pleased to get Barrow, and he has been fantastic for us this season - other than his temper.

As to McGuigan - we have had a pretty awful history of signing hookers from other AP clubs in recent years. Briggs, Bateman and Hawkins were all barely average at best, and so far I have seen no evidence that McGuigan will be a decent signing for us. I hope he joins the likes of Parling and Barrow as good captures from you, but fear he will be, for us at least, another Brookes.

Hawkins was great for us pre Clark incedent. Don't get why you think he was average at best.

And TBH all 3 were signed as older squad players, filling in as 3rd choice.

First time in a while we have signed a young hooker viewed as a prospect.

Mind you are recuitment has been spot on this year and majority of fans were moaning about them sooooo.....

Hawkins was decent - but no more.

Perhaps McGuigan will turn out to be a great signing - but atm he seems to be second choice at Falcons behind a pensioner. Deano is, as he was with Barrow, upset to be losing the lad - so we shall see. I am probably wrong, but can only go on what I have seen which is a big player decent in the loose, but unable to strike for the ball at scrum time or throw with any accuracy.

I think you'll develop McGuigan in to very good premiership hooker. His throwing needs tweaking but the rest of his game will work well with Tigers. He's mobile as well.

Lawson is aging but he's had an indian summer recently and been showing form that made him a Scottish international. Next season we should be looking to replace both him and Mcguigan though.

We have Nelson a former academy lad (bout 22) whos a big physical hooker who may comeinto contention more. Hes impressed in his A games but not had much feature for the 1st.

McGuigan has been a much better player for us than Barrow ever was. Barrow had the odd few decent games but never really kicked on. He was probably 4/5th choice when he left.

McGuigan throws well of late, he'll surpass Youngs in no time.

Yeah I think your right Sgt, we didn't get much out of Barrow due to injuries, but he will be some player if he can get over them.

I also agree Mcguigan will overtake Youngs and be Tigers first choice.

I see the rumours are that Mayhew and Tipuna are off to leeds next season

Unashamedly borrowed from the unoffy...current squad contracts (including new signings)...and those who are out of contract at the end of the season.

Scott Wilson prop 2018
Taione Vea 2017
Ben Harris 2017
Jon Welsh 2017
Alex Rogers 2017
Paddy Ryan 2017
Sam Lockwood ?
Adam Brocklebank (A)

Scott Lawson 2018
David Nelson (A)
Santi Socino (A)
Jamie Blamire (A)

Mouritz Botha 2018
Glen Young (A)
Will Witty (A)
Sean Robinson 2018
Harry Snowdon (A)

Mark Wilson Back row 2017
Will Welch Back row 2017
Ally Hogg Back row 2017
Joshua Chisanga back row 2017
Nili Latu back row 2017
Dan Temm (A)
Joe Craggs (A)
Callum Chick (A)
Seb Ferriera (A)

Micky Young scrum half 2017
Dan Taylor (A)
Ruaridh Dawson (A) 2019

Tom Catterick Fly Half 2017
Mike Delany Fly Half 2018
Craig Willis Fly Half 2018
Brett Connon (A)

Juan Pablo Socino centre 2018
Chris Harris centre 2017
Adam Powell centre 2017
Adam Redman centre (A)
Tom Penny (A) 2017

Sinoti Sinoti Wing - undisclosed contract length
Giamba Venditti wing 2017
Niki Goneva wing/centre - undisclosed
Dan Marshall (A)

Alex Tait Full Back 2017
Simon Hammersley full back 2018
Ed Coulson (A)


Out of Contract at the end of the season:
Vickers
Fry
McGuigan
Hawkins
Furno
Todd Clever
Thompson
Green
Macleod
Mayhew
Tipuna
Takalua
Fury
Tiesi
Andy Tuilagi
Alesana Tuilagi
Kibirige
Watson
Agulla

Vicker, Green, Takula, Kibirige, Watson and Agulla.

The rest can go for me.

Totally agree Sgt.

Although id keep Tipuna over Mickey Young!

Huge game at the weekend....

Huge indeed GF. A win for you and we are down. A win for us and it's game on.

What sort of side are you guys looking at sending out, do you have anyone you'd expect to be playing out injured?

Havent a clue Ozzy. I hope we see that Chissanga on the bench. He could have a huge impact at say 60 minutes.

Id be looking to play:
1 Vickers
2 Lawson
3 Vea
4 Robinson
5 Green
6 Wilson
7 Latu
8 Hogg (Chisanga off the bench)

9 Tukulua
10 Delayney - Wish Goode was still here!
11 Watson
12 Powell
13 Harris / Venditti
14 Sinotti
15 Hammersley

I've not seen Chissanga.

I suspect this will come down to which pack can get on top and which set of half backs control the game better. Nerves and pressure are going to play a part. I just hoe that the game isn't won/lost due to an individual error from a player, or due to a controversial refereeing call. I'll be interested to see who the referee for this one is. I suspect that it could be Barnes.

I'm pretty sure it's the ref that Richards had a go at the other week, his name escapes me.

Ozzy3213 wrote:I've not seen Chissanga.

I suspect this will come down to which pack can get on top and which set of half backs control the game better.  Nerves and pressure are going to play a part.  I just hoe that the game isn't won/lost due to an individual error from a player, or due to a controversial refereeing call.  I'll be interested to see who the referee for this one is.  I suspect that it could be Barnes.

You wont miss him if he plays.....

AM I allowed to say that or will I get a £20k fine and banned

It'll be interesting to see how it goes.

I hope its not down to refereeing.

Everyday racism GF

Sgt_Pooly wrote:I'm pretty sure it's the ref that Richards had a go at the other week, his name escapes me.

That doesn't bode well.

Ah the Kenyan boy.

Oops, shoite, sure I'll be in trouble now!

How very dare you!

That's it ban yourself for 3 weeks!

It's Barnes for the weekend.

Happy with that, he's a top ref and rarely leaves room for criticism. At least Heaf might get to tone it down a little....win or lose

Hmmn, not sure I can agree on Barnes. I can cite a number of games where he has made decisions which have left an awful lot of room for criticism.

He's been very solid at our place, even when we've been on the end of a hiding. Unfortunately there's not many better about....

I can only remember 1 game where we had him this season, and we won, but he was shockingly poor.

Sgt_Pooly wrote:It's Barnes for the weekend.

Happy with that, he's a top ref and rarely leaves room for criticism. At least Heaf might get to tone it down a little....win or lose

Oiy I heard that ... there was me thinking I'd been quite well behaved recently

I have to agree with Ozzy though - I always thought he was one of the best but he's made a few more than usual dodgy calls lately ... including the late try he allowed Wuss (against Quins I think) when one of their players clearly pulled a defender back and even after reviewing it got it wrong ... fingers crossed he's on good form this weekend.

Ozzy3213 wrote:I can only remember 1 game where we had him this season, and we won, but he was shockingly poor.

Yep Wuss again - he dropped quite a few b*llocks in that one ...

Now I'm going to get told off by Sgt again 

I just hope the game isn't decided by poor refereeing

ditto ...

Well I think we're shipping out quite a few deadweight this summer. All of these as good as confirmed away:

Eric Fry
George McGuigan
Rob Hawkins
Todd Clever
Richard Mayhew
Tipuna Fury
Andy Tuilagi
Alesana Tuilagi
Kane Thompson - TBC
Josh Furno - TBC

It'll be interesting to see how our recruitment goes- depending of course if we survive or not.

Gonvea - Replacing Alex Tuilagi
The jersey prop replacing Eric fry

With Witty, Sheldon and Fereirra all big locks pretty much ready, I wonder if he will bother to replace Furno or Thompson.

We have a few older guys in the team aswell which will need looking at.

Hogg - Covered by Chissangas signing.
Latu playing awesome but not any younger
Lawson - Not any younger
Vickers - Not getting any younger

We could see some big changes if we stay up .

We have signed Ben Sowrey the hooker from Worcester next season.

Any ideas what hes like?

Judging from Worcester supporters, hes pretty much the same stage as Nelson and Socino....baffling signing, if that's the case.

3rd/4th choice here and hasn't played much this season. Looked decent enough when hes been on, but I don't recall the last game he had.

England U20's academy player behind him so probably the right move if he's likely to get some time playing.

Playing for the "A" side, he was terrific, and very good as a ball carrier too. Look out for some great runs, though he is probably not ready for the prem just yet.

Well we may stay up by the skin of our teeth but by god that wasn't pretty to watch yesterday...as it has been all season.

Whilst I accept we have too many players who are not premiership quality - starting with Young and Delayney!!!, I now question the coaching again.

Wheres the support runners, running good angles at pace?
Why is the default tactics ...kick kick kick.
Why are the kicks not to space...why are they ALWAYS straight to the opposition backthree???!!!

Why are our forwards so slow an ponderous at the breakdown?

Im afraid its time to ship out a big part of the squad. Too many just not good enough.

And Dean Richards gets one more season....that's it!

At the moment for net season:

1 ?
2 ?
3 Welsh
4 ?
5 Robinson
6 Wilson
7 Latu
8 Chisanga

9 Tukulua??
10 ??
11 Watson
12 Socino. But he needs to improve his creativity
13 Goneva??
14 Sinotti?? / Venditti
15 Hammersley

Midfield creativity is a HUGE issue for me. Pointless having outside backs like Sinoti Goneva, Venditti, Hammersley when hey get dregs of chances.

9 -10 - 12 - 13 MUST be sorted next season.

Socino was terrible yesterday. His distribution is awful and he slipped of loads of tackles.

We need some quality recruitment or it's going to be a long season again.

LH, HK, 4, 8, 10, 12 are positions we really need to improve.

On the unoffy people are saying Socino played well...im curious as I really didn't think he did!

The whole midfield are just blunt!

Aparently we have signed that Ben Sowry the hooker from Worcester. Really not sure on that one?? BUt Wuss seem to think hes a potential cracker just never had any game time? Well whys that?

Whats your thoughts on this Jersey Loosehead? Supposed to be a good scrummager. IF he is then at least that's something.

With the Falcons (almost!) safe, what is the target for next year?

I think that with one or two signings they could be a mid table team next year.

I've got a real soft spot for them as I lived in the toon for years and think of it as my home in many ways, even if I grew up (and still am) a tigers fan (cue theatrical boooo!), and live in weegie-ville at the mo.

I think the best signing you guys could make is an experienced game managing ten. The problem is that it is quite hard to think of one. I think the forwards are okay, bit more strength in depth is always nice, and the outside backs can be excellent. One decent ten (like when Goode was playing for a few months) and suddenly the team is no longer relegation fodder.

When is Flood's contract with Toulouse due to finish? Any chance of a grand return to the North East one day? He'd be a decent candidate I think. Probably not enough cash at Falcons to tempt him back, but maybe he earned enough in France?!

We need quality in the key positions.

9 and 10 are the big talking points at the moment.
Mickey Young is just not good enough. He is a poor scrum half. Personally id like to see Tukulua given much more game time to see what he's like, as I think he could be good.

Delayney is splitting opinions. Some say he is just not clicking at the moment because hes been injured so much. He is a good player and a good preseason will show that.

Others just don't think he's good enough.

Tom Catterick played great last season, but has just been dropped this season for whatever reason. And Willis is very young, but huge potential. As is Brett Connon.

I would like to see us sign a good experienced FH. Goode showed what it can bring!

I also think we need to see more from the coaching team....they're not improving the team. And we must sign a defence coach. I don't rate Wells at all...and yet he's doing almost all the coaching!!!

Falcons announcing a new signing tomorrow at 7am

Is it that Hooker from Worcester?

Watching the clips he looks very quick and direct, the complete opposite of Young!

Could be a decent signing if we keep hold of Takulua.

Its all about speed SGt.

If that's what he brings...then fair enough the fans will give him the backing.
Are the clips on Youtube?

Yea, he scored some crackers for Leeds.

Just watched some of the clips. In the varsity and in the 7's.

Im actually quietly optimistic. He looks like a player who keeps the tempo high, has a very good eye for the break and passes quickly. His game is about pace / speed.

He also appears to have some intelligence with his kicking!

9 in 7's should surely have the basics for being a good XV 9?

They have to be quick off the base of the ruck, be aware of any space available and also have the speed to attack them himself.

Absolutely...and that's what we need! Young is truly woeful.

We have made another big carrying back rower apparently....

http://www.newcastlefalcons.co.uk/news/story/harrison-orr-adds-impetus-to-newcastle-pack

He looks like he brings physicality which is what we've missed at times. EQ is obviously a huge bonus with the new incentives, looks like a decent signing.