WE MUST BE SWITCHED ON - FLOOD

TOBY Flood says Newcastle Falcons must carry their early-season form into the European Challenge Cup as they prepare for tomorrow’s visit of Welsh side, Dragons.

The 60-times-capped England international is in contention for the first competitive start of his second spell at the club as the Falcons look to build on a solid opening to the Aviva Premiership, one which has seen them winning four of their six games and taking a bonus point in defeat to champions Exeter Chiefs last weekend.

Determined for Newcastle not to slow down during the European fortnight, Flood said: “The big danger for us is we switch off because we are sat here thinking we have put ourselves into a good position in the Premiership.

“We cannot fall into the trap of thinking let’s just get through these two European games and see where we are come the Leicester match, because that is when complacency creeps in.

“We just need to go all out in the Challenge Cup games, get it right on the field and take that momentum back into the Premiership.

“If you look back we are in a pretty good position in the Premiership with four wins from six and being in the top four in the division, but it is still early days.

“If we don’t perform during the next part of the season we will be chasing ourselves a little and it comes down to making sure we keep it going.

“This time of the season things can be a little bit stop-start with chopping between three different competitions and we need to remain switched on the whole time. What we cannot do is take our foot off the gas in Europe.”