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

That's a relief. Scotland have good depth at loosehead but bugger all at tighthead!

Agree Sgt...need some centres.

Have you heard anything about Ben Harris the LH from Leeds?

Youngs has an injury aswell so im very keen to see how Egerton goes the new 7's SH.

Are you going to the game in Darlington. Im tempted to have a drive down...think its only a £10 to get in.

Nothing mate, I imagine he's just not up to speed. Egerton looks decent from what I've seen of him.

Bit of a trek for me unfortunately, about 3000 miles.

Ha ha yeah quite a trip.

Well it's a gorgeous day.  Nice stadium... Perfect for some quality rugby.

Let's see how they go.

Ht
14-5 to falcons. Usual huff and puff but as per last season seemingly bereft of cutting edge or attacking ideas with the ball.

Pretty meh game really.

Expecting a raft of subs for the second half.... And our first look at Chisanga!!!

Game of two halves. New pack and the physicality has gone up massively.  

And Willis coming on at 10 and Connon at 15 has changed the game. Breaking through instead of going wide constantly.  

Chisanga is a beast but needs to be told to stay in the forwards more instead of staying on the wing!! He'll become a crowd favourite.

Sinotti is just an insane juggernaut.  The sound when he hit the tackle on once of his runs was scary. The tackler is still seeing stars!!!

How where the new guys GF? Any standouts?

How was the scrum with Welsh at LH?

Whole team was woeful first half exactly like last season.  No attack whatsoever.  Second half improved but not brilliant.

Olmstead is a monster of a lock with a real mean streak and very athletic.
Front row went well. Lawson was brutal in the second half. Sowery was non existent in the first.

Witty looked strong and physical.  Chick went very well at 8

Civetta looked way out of his depth.  

Chisanga was brutal. He carries like a beast and was ferocious at the rucks and mauls. He made one text book turnover. But very very raw.He stood out in the backs alot though which he needs to stop. I even heard someone in the crowd say is he a forward or back.  


But the main man was Sinotti. The guy is just a juggernaut.  He made about four monster carries and the noise when he hit the multiple tacklers was frightening.  

I would not like to tackle him!!!!

Zach Kibirige cleared of r*** today at Newcastle Crown Court.

Yeah I saw that LT, apparently closed in an hour which suggest it was very straight forward.

Anyway hopefully this means we'll get the old Zac back this season and he can start tearing up defences like he was.

He's got some competiton there
Goneva - Class

Watson - Who was top class all last season

Sinotti - Who was frighteningly physical and wreckless in the first pre season on Saturday and says he is fitter and stronger than he has ever been!

LondonTiger wrote:Zach Kibirige cleared of r*** today at Newcastle Crown Court.

Not to be judgemental and I obviously don't know the ins and outs.....but it sounded like a very weak case. I'm surprised it got that far judging by some of the statements.

Got to feel for the lad, he's had his name/career dragged through the mud over this.

Sgt_Pooly wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:Zach Kibirige cleared of r*** today at Newcastle Crown Court.

Not to be judgemental and I obviously don't know the ins and outs.....but it sounded like a very weak case. I'm surprised it got that far judging by some of the statements.

Got to feel for the lad, he's had his name/career dragged through the mud over this.

Sounded dodgy as heck. 4 times in an hour gives 3 windows to tell him no and get out or call the police.

On a more pleasant note, Marcus Watson looked excellent at the 7s. With your centre issues will Goneva be shifted inside to 13 more consistently to have Watson and Sinoti on the wings?

Most Tigers fans have said moving Goneva to 13 is not an ideal move. I tend to trust their word.

I think we need to invest in a centre or two of quality.

But I do think much of our problems come from 10. On the unofficial forum many are rightly highlighting the issues with Delayney. Willis looks a far better option. And we still have Joel Hodgson and Catterick to get a few pre season games.

Delaney looks decent but we just don't see to perform with him at 10, I'd agree we should go with Willis.

I get the Tigers general feeling about Goneva at 13 but they're coming from centres of quality, we are not. Seeing Goneva play at 13 a few times, I'd say he was better than any of our other options at the minute.

Im inclined to agree with the people on the unoffy he does tend to run sideways a bit too much which results in taking up the space of the rest of the midfield.

Willis in the second half just seemed to be more stable and was making the ball and rest of the backs do the work. Dare I say he's picked something up from a certain Mr Goode!

Doncaster up next who should be stronger than Nottingham. And we can judge who performs in that...although I wont make it as im at a wedding.

Opeti Fonua added...looks like that American 8 wont be coming.

Well we have some ball carriers in the pack now...but could have done with another centre.

Some big lads coming in - I'd rather feed them for a week than a fortnight!!

Team for Doncaster on Saturday

A few of the performers last week get a start.

1 Welsh
2 Lawson
3 Vea
4 Witty
5 Olmstead
6 Chisanga
7 Welch (C)
8 Wilson

9 Egerton
10 Hodgson
11 Sinoti
12 Socino
13 Waldouck **
14 Marshall
15 Tait

Replacements (Looks like the whole squad ):
Sowery, Rogers, Ryan, Green, Davidson, Holmes, Temm, Delayney, Willis, Stevenson, Catterick, Kibirige, Hammersley

Doesn't seem to be many of the new guys getting a game? No Lockwood, Cooper, Orr etc.

Yeah strange about Lockwood...I thought with only Vickers as our LH and Welsh mostly TH he would have been getting a run out.

Is Cooper here yet?

And Orr is also a surprise after playing in the 7's I thought he would have been playing in this one. And Goneva isn't playing either?

Totally forgot about Goneva. No doubt we'll go into the new season with no idea what our strongest XV is.

So Sgt, which side would you start v Sale?

Wouldouk has signed up

Ah not impressed really. Another signing like Powell - solid but not inspiring.

No better than Harris in my opinion.

Well we had a spot open, so let's hope he's better than we have. Tough to name a side without seeing the warm-ups.

1. Welsh (Lockwood?)
2. Cooper
3. Vea
4. Olmstead (Has looked impressive?)
5. Robinson
6. Wilson
7. Latu
8. Fonua

9. ?
10. Willis
11. Goneva/Watson
12. JPS/Waldouck
13. Goneva/Waldouck
14. Sinoti
15. Hammers

Backline is tough and I'm sure Welch will start too.

Yeah Olmstead has been very impressive. But so has Witty...been very physical and athletic.

We have 3 VERY good lock options at the moment...and that Andrew Davidson the Scotland U20 6/4/5 looks another!

Im not sure Fonua will start...I think he'll be an impact player. But Chisanga has impressed me hugely. He's like a very raw version of Latu. And a bit bigger.

I think backs will be the problem. I have been impressed with Egerton at SH Sgt. He has been energetic, and quick. Better than Youngs has ever been.

Im not sure how he'll line up the midfield...But FH is crucial and I agree with you...Willis must start now and be first choice. He has the most complete game out of all our 10's and just needs to be played. He could be a VERY good 10.

In the first Warm up at Darlington when we played Nottingham, young Bret Conon (FH, FB) came on at FB for the second half...and he looked very good. As did Calum Chick.

I think we do have some good options coming through on the conveyor belt...but I'd love to see some centres come through.

I think Harris will get quite a bit of gametime at 13.

Team for Galashiels on Friday:

Mostly an A team.

1 Alex Rogers
2 Santiago Socino
3 Paddy Ryan
4 Andrew Davidson
5 Nick Civetta
6 Max Davies
7 Tyrone Holmes
8 Josh Chisanga

9 Sonatane Takulua
10 Tom Catterick
11 Zach Kibirige
12 Craig Willis
13 Ben Stevenson - 17yo centre / wing/fb - at Durham uni and in the falcons senior academy. Similar to Hammersley
14 Dan Marshall
15 Alex Tait

16 Ben Sowery 17 Andrew Foster 18 Adam Brocklebank 19 Will Witty 20 Archie Erskine 21 Ruaridh Dawson 22 Brett Conon 23 Belisario Agulla 24 Fred Burdon

Wtf happened yesterday?!?!

wrong thread?

Well that was bad, no idea what is going on. Team for Bristol:

1. Welsh
2. Lawson
3. Wilson
4. Witty
5. Olmstead
6. Wilson
7. Welch
8. Hogg

9. Young
10. Delany
11. Geneva
12. Domino
13. Waldouck
14. Sinoti
15. Hammersley

9-12 Is an issue, I'd really like to see Willis involved sooner rather than later. Is Egerton worth a punt? Geneva to 13?

Wrong thread again Sgt?  There's a 2016/17 one ...

Haha....cheers mate

No worries