Diamond hails 'remarkable' resilience at Newcastle
Newcastle Falcons consultant director of rugby Steve Diamond is full of praise for his "remarkable" squad despite their position at the bottom of the Premiership.The Falcons have won only two of their 16 league games and are set to finish last for a third straight season.But the club is operating below the salary cap and desperate for new investment as owner Semore Kurdi tries to sell.It is against this backdrop that Diamond believes his squad deserves real credit."They are a remarkable group of men," he said. "Sometimes they are not the best rugby players, but to a man, there is not a whinger in it. Not one person."Morale is remarkably good for the unremarkable season we've had."
Friday's game against Gloucester marks the final one at Kingston Park for captain Callum Chick and hooker Jamie Blamire, two Newcastle stalwarts, who are heading to Northampton Saints and Leicester Tigers respectively next season.It continues a talent drain of homegrown players from the club, which included Adam Radwan's move to the Tigers in mid-season, which Diamond said were all in the best interests of those individuals, given the current circumstances.Newcastle have shipped 130 points in losing their two most recent games away to Bath and Saracens as the gulf between them and the Premiership's best sides has been exposed.But before that they were on the wrong end of close games with Exeter Chiefs and Northampton Saints. "We should have won at Exeter," said Diamond. "We should have won against Northampton. End of story. "That would have put a completely different slant on our season. It would have been four wins with Gloucester at home to come."
The ex-Sale Sharks and Worcester Warriors boss knows his squad is not the most talented in the Premiership, but he said that the shrinkage from 13 to 10 clubs in the league has left them more isolated at the bottom.There should have been a relegation play-off at the end of this campaign but Championship leaders Ealing Trailfinders do not meet the criteria for promotion, meaning Newcastle's status quo remains. "What's happened because we've gone from 13 teams to 10, we are the only whipping boys in the league," he said. "There used to be three sides who were like that, so you could always pick up five, six, seven wins. Now there is only us who sides would have down to beat on paper, home and away. "When did that last happen to Newcastle, when teams were afraid of coming up here? That is what we need to change moving forward."
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