Story Of The Season - Newcastle Falcons

Over the course of the 2014/15 Aviva Premiership Season Dean Richards’ Newcastle Falcons have shown marked improvement in terms of the performance levels and it has been great to see. The Falcons have gone from being a shy, tentative and often clumsy team to being one that knows what they stands for and what it wants to do. They are not the full package just yet, for the execution of this knowledge hasn’t been quite as clean as anyone at the club would have liked, however they are on the right road. 

I believe that the fact that from very early on in the season they have not had to worry about the ominous threat of relegation has helped a great deal, for the focus was able to be solely on performance as opposed to pure dog eat dog survival. The processes that Dean Richard’s and in particular Dave Walder have put in place to instil confidence in the squad and developed their attacking mentality have worked. This season Newcastle have scored 57 tries, over double the amount that they amassed in the 2013/14 season and the rugby that has produced these tries has been positive. 

Newcastle's willingness to attack has come from all areas of their backline however one Samoan has ignited proceedings; Sintoi Sintoi. Whilst the joke ‘he is so good they named him twice’ becomes ever more tiresome by the minute his electric pace and sublime feet will never do so. Sinoti has scored nine tries and set up many more during the course of the season and he has made more meters than any other man in the competition. There are others that have shot through, in Tom Catterick they have unearthed a steely operator and his rivalry with Rory Clegg will push them both next season. Simon Hammersley may be quite a slight player but he carves up the turf and Chris Harris has also burst onto the Premiership scene. Up front, the Falcons have grafted, Mark Wilson has been near the top of the tackle count consistently week after week and has made more tackles than anyone else this year, 239 supported by their ever present Captain Will Welch.  

Dean Richards’ will certainly miss the experience of Mike Blair as he heads North to the Glasgow Warriors next season and the hole that Kieran Brookes’ will leave in the set piece will take some filling. However losing key men isn’t a new experience for their Director of Rugby and he’ll be ready for the challenge of filling those voids and making sure that his side can press on from this solid platform. 

All things considered you have to declare their season a success in terms of the shift in performance levels from last year.  Of course things haven’t been perfect, they’ve have had their 'down' games, the games in which everything looked a little haphazard again however if the Falcons can focus and learn how to win the tight games instead of handing them over to their opposition then they’ll progress forwards and move up off eleventh spot come the 2015/16 season. 

Key Men - Sinoti Sinoti, Tom Catterick & Mark Wilson

Most Impressive Result - Round 5's 29 - 24 home win over the Exeter Chiefs 
Strongest Signings for 15/16 Season - securing the services again of Alex Tait & Will Welch means a lot. The beast of a man Nili Latu will also bring power to the party next year.
Overall Assessment - Steps forward but a spot of killer instinct is still on the hit list.