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

Well surely a team like this should be able to come back up at the first attempt?

1 Mulipola / Welsh
2 Cooper / Mcguigan
3 Ah You / Tampin
4 Robinson
5 (One of the others)
6 Welch
7 Graham / Hardie
8 Van Der Walt

9 Takulua
10 Flood / Hodgson / Connon
11 Sinoti
12 Matavesi
13 Williams
14 Vuna
15 Tait / Josh Hodge

Whilst still giving some of the academy players plenty of gametime...like Radwan, Passman, Collett, Uzokwe, kelemeti, Obonna, Charlie Wilson etc etc

Local Lad hooker Charlie Maddison signed from Jersey Reds.

Big unit, decent squad back up. Gives us 4 hookers for this season.

Surely with that team of players, Newcastle will come shooting back up into the top flight?

The pack should have far too much. Between those back row options and two hookers who are competitive over the ball Falcons should dominate the breakdown throughout the season.

Yeah we should be too strong for the rest.....hopefully.

Michael Young and George Mcguigan name as joint Captains for upcoming season. That means Young will play loads...gutted.
And why is Will Welch not Captain. Unless his injuries are worse than we thought?

GeordieFalcon wrote:Yeah we should be too strong for the rest.....hopefully.

Michael Young and George Mcguigan name as joint Captains for upcoming season. That means Young will play loads...gutted.
And why is Will Welch not Captain. Unless his injuries are worse than we thought?

Presumably the joint captains are because you'll change scrum halfs at around the same time you change hookers in a game?

Possibly Sam....

I have no issues with Mcguigan...i think hes consistently improving as a player (Though Cooper will always be first choice starting hooker).

But Michael Young is not a patch on Takulua.

I guess we shall see.

Well that could be the problem if both co-captains are expected to be benching. I guess there's other options available to captain on the field. Tom Youngs is still club captain at Tigers but George Ford must have started as captain in almost as many games last season.

Very true. At hooker we have 4 options....

Mcguigan now co captain
Cooper first choice starter
Blamire just promoted to senior side this year..dynamic powerful player with huge potential, plays like a flanker.
Maddison...a geordie just signed from Jersey Reds. A big powerful unit.

Its all a bit bizarre however in reality i expect quite a bit if rotation this season...only playing the real first team for the biggest challengers.

We have signed Nottingham Tight head prop Mike Daniels

GeordieFalcon wrote:We have signed Nottingham Tight head prop Mike Daniels

Was on loan at Wasps last season, meant to sign for them but failed a medical. If I remember rightly. I think Nottingham fans were hoping he'd return to them for next season.

Yeah thats right sam...but Smithy put communications office has sratwd that hes passed all the tests and been training with us for several weeks.

See how he goes.

Could be a very handy signing, the Championship is more than capable of producing good quality tightheads that go on to bigger things. Williams and Francis at Chiefs, Cole spent a very important development season in the Championship as well.

We have a few youngsters that i hope get some genuine gametime...to really toughen up ready for (hopefully) the following season back in the prem.

Team for the Championship Cup v Jersey on Saturday

15 Tom Arscott
14 Adam Radwan
13 Tom Penny
12 Toby Flood
11 Sinoti Sinoti
10 Joel Hodgson
9 Sam Stuart

1 Adam Brocklebank
2 Jamie Blamire
3 Mike Daniels
4 Darren Barry
5 Sean Robinson
6 Will Welch (captain)
7 Gary Graham
8 Callum Chick

Replacements

16 Charlie Maddison
17 Sam Lockwood
18 Rodney Ah You
19 Toby Salmon
20 Simon Uzokwe
21 Michael Young
22 Brett Connon
23 George Wacokecoke

Think thats a pretty strong team for the first run out and not the full strnegth squad either.

Mix of yougsters and experienced guys.

Looks like a decent result for you guys over in Jersey. Not sure how strong the Jersey lineup was, but all of the starting XV against you were in the 23 that beat Russia.

Yeah not bad...mixed reviews from some of the fans who were there and the club.

But essentially it was our first run out of the season replacing friendlies so never going to be a perfect performance. A couple of good individual performances apparently...Radwan, Blamire (the young academy Hooker) and Barry the new lock from Worcester

We have doncaster at home on Sunday so ill be looking forward to seeing how we go in that one.

While Jersey have had a number of pre-season games before that. Falcons will not be travelling to Ealing and Jersey and walking all over them, so this was a good result with a young pack.

Jonny William's has been diagnosed with testicular cancer.

johnnwilliamss:'I’ve recently faced a slight bump in the road after being diagnosed with testicular cancer. This came as a huge surprise and out of no where but these things always do and there’s no preparing for it. Today I have finished my last batch of chemotherapy and the road is about to get easier from here. My girlfriend Hannah, family, friends, team mates, coaches have been extremely supportive in these circumstances and I can’t thank any of them enough. 
Lads, please make sure you don’t make the same mistake I did. Regularly check your balls and if you find anything out of the ordinary, swelling or firmness be sure to get checked out by your GP straight away. 
Here’s to getting back fit and healthy and back on that pitch asap'

Yeah, its a shame to hear about Johnny. But some of my pals have been through it and come through absolutely fine. Hopefully he will aswell. Hes only 23 and is some player when he's fit.

Well league starts on Saturday and heres the team for our trip to London Scottish:

15 Tom Arscott
14 Adam Radwan
13 Tom Penny
12 George Wacokecoke
11 Sinoti Sinoti
10 Toby Flood
9 Sam Stuart

1 Trevor Davison
2 Jamie Blamire
3 Mike Daniels
4 Darren Barry
5 Sean Robinson (captain)
6 Gary Graham
7 John Hardie
8 Simon Uzokwe

Replacements
16 Kyle Cooper
17 Adam Brocklebank
18 Mark Tampin
19 Sebastian de Chaves
20 Callum Chick
21 Cameron Nordli-Kelemeti
22 Joel Hodgson
23 Alex Tait

GeordieFalcon wrote:Yeah, its a shame to hear about Johnny. But some of my pals have been through it and come through absolutely fine. Hopefully he will aswell. Hes only 23 and is some player when he's fit.

Hopefully he makes a swift recovery. Injuries have really hampered him but when fit and playing regularly he's excellent. Was great for Falcons every time I saw him play for you last season. His direct style created spaced on the outside for the wingers as well with defenders being cautious to drift off of him with his step, power and offload.

Well a win by the skin of our teeth.....

Is that a wake up call thats its not going to be a walk in thw park.

Aye, a bit of a squeeky win, though not sure if your front row had started shaving yet.

Ha ha yeah theres a few kids in there.

The weather was appalling by all accounts

Does that mean London Scottish looking a bit better this season. Surprised they got so close!

BigGee wrote:Does that mean London Scottish looking a bit better this season. Surprised they got so close!

Difficult to say Big Gee, probably have to wait a few rounds to see what kind of form teams are in.

By all accounts there were some very heated in game words between Toby Flood and the coaching staff. All not rosey.

But then i think Floods position is massively under threat as young Brett Connon was looking extremely smooth and comfortable in that 10 spot during the cup games.

Surely Floods time is just about up in any case, he was not very effective last year, hard to see him cutting when they go back up next time.

Is he planning on moving into coaching?

Theres a lot of rumours about Flood. That this may be his last season. And he may go into coaching with the local team he actually started playing at - Morpeth.

We shall see. But i wouldnt really want him as our 10 should we come up next season.

As  i said befire Connon looks a really classy operator..albeit in the championship cup..so i look forward to seeing how he goes in the league. .

Hodgson isnt ever going to be the starting 10 so we need to really sort that position out.

Team v Hartpury University RFC

15 Alex Tait,
14 Adam Radwan,
13 George Wacokecoke,
12 Josh Matavesi,
11 Sinoti Sinoti,
10 Toby Flood (captain),
9 Sam Stuart,

1 Adam Brocklebank,
2 Charlie Maddison,
3 Rodney Ah You,
4 Darren Barry,
5 Will Montgomery,
6 Will Welch,
7 Gary Graham,
8 Nemani Nagusa

Replacements: 16 Jamie Blamire, 17 Trevor Davison, 18 Mark Tampin, 19 Sean Robinson, 20 Callum Chick, 21 Cameron Nordli-Kelemeti, 22 Joel Hodgson, 23 Ben Stevenson

Wow....these are awful and we look toothless, slow ponderous and lacking any kind of creativity or imagination. Flood just barks his voice out all game but looks a shadow of a top player.

21-0 due to individual breaks...one a length of the field by Radwan.

Half time and im considering going home.

40 odd - 7 win.

We look anything but a premiership team that we think we are.

Another 40 odd point win v Jersey...

Yet we looked slow ponderous , clueless in attack etc.

Just looking for moments of brilliance from the odd individual.

Sadly Adam Radwan will be away the second his contract is up. Another breathtaking solo try yesterday...imagine him in a quality team that creates chances for him.

Ive just found out that the Falcons have no full time Physios. They have one that covers the match days...and all other physio activity is carried out by level 3 + students at Newcastle University.

Thats absolutely incredble!!

GeordieFalcon wrote:Ive just found out that the Falcons have no full time Physios. They have one that covers the match days...and all other physio activity is carried out by level 3 + students at Newcastle University.

Thats absolutely incredble!!

Well, Saracens used massage experts from a Watford Lapdancing club

LondonTiger wrote:

GeordieFalcon wrote:Ive just found out that the Falcons have no full time Physios. They have one that covers the match days...and all other physio activity is carried out by level 3 + students at Newcastle University.

Thats absolutely incredble!!

Well, Saracens used massage experts from a Watford Lapdancing club

Team for Bedford on Saturday

Newcastle Falcons:

15 Tom Arscott
14 Adam Radwan
13 George Wacokecoke
12 Dominic Waldouck
11 Sinoti Sinoti
10 Toby Flood
9 Michael Young (co-captain)

1 Sam Lockwood
2 George McGuigan (co-captain)
3 Rodney Ah You
4 Darren Barry
5 Sean Robinson
6 Callum Chick
7 John Hardie
8 Nemani Nagusa,

Replacements: 16 Jamie Blamire,  17 Trevor Davison, 18 Mark Tampin, 19 Sebastian de Chaves, 20 Will Welch, 21 Sam Stuart, 22 Joel Hodgson, 23 Ben Stevenson

So Flood continues on. No sign of Brett Conon anywhere...and Dom Waldouck starting.....i give up.

Sounds pretty grim at Goldington Road.

Watched the last 10 minutes and the quality of the game was pretty grim. I've honestly seen more quality in amateur rugby.

Dean Richards needs to go.

Simple as that.

Utterly atrocious

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/50358991

Article about Johnny Williams cancer treatment.

Yeah he's being very public about it all. I hope he comes through it great, and the treatment is successful.

Last week's win (with Hodgson at 10 I see) was pretty comprehensive.

A few big Debuts tomorrow night....very strong team.

Lets see if we can actually continue on from last week and play some heads up fast paced, quick rucking rugby...although Toby flood is at 10...so that probably rules that out.

15 Tim Swiel
14 Alex Tait
13 Gareth Owen
12 Josh Matavesi
11 Cooper Vuna
10 Toby Flood (captain)
9 Sonatane Takulua

1 Sam Lockwood
2 Jamie Blamire
3 Rodney Ah you
4 Darren Barry
5 Greg Peterson
6 Will Welch
7 John Hardie
8 Philip van der Walt

Replacements

16 George McGuigan
17 Adam Brocklebank
18 Logovi'i Mulipola
19 Rob Farrar
20 Simon Uzokwe
21 Cameron Nordli-Kelemeti
22 Joel Hodgson
23 Ben Stevenson

Well 50-10 but dear lord  .....awful. Dean Richard's prehistoric tactics are crippling this team.

We actually have some decent players and some cracking kids...but they'll doing nothing under Dean.
Theyll be better off moving on to better teams. Radwan, Hodge, Uzokwe, Blamire, Farrar.

We'll be straight back down the year after promotion

Was that a league or Cup fixture?

Cup fixture...Lt..

Young winger morgan passman has dislocated his knee playing for Darlington...huge blow as hes been outstanding.

Big game coming up this weekend