Richards angry as Falcons frustrate

Vereniki Goneva were also unavailable for selection.

As such, Newcastle’s attack was crablike, ponderously shifting from side to side before being pushed back by the current of Gloucester bodies.

And that lack of penetration and ingenuity was particularly disappointing for Richards.

He said: “We were two tries down at half-time and we had a chat about it and it came down to our understanding of how to play the game.

“If you run just laterally all the time and have no variety to your game, you’ll never score a try. We had enough possession to win the game, it’s just understanding how to win it.”

He added: “They were strong and you’ve got to take your hat off to their defence but we lacked imagination in attack and that’s understanding how to play and being accurate about it, that’s something we weren’t this time.”

The former England international, and Leicester and Harlequins chief was less complimentary about his own side’s defensive efforts.

While the Falcons have laboured to just 30 points in their last three league games, they have conceded 99. And after giving up 40 points away at Wasps last weekend, Richards had hoped for more of a reaction than he got against Gloucester.

He said: “We talked about it after last week, the inaccuracies in defence and inability to score as well.

“We looked pretty pedestrian defensively, making mistake after mistake and as a consequence, it probably cost us the game.

“We conceded two tries off first phase again, which is very similar to last week, and that should never happen.”