Defeat to Sale leaves Falcons rock bottom
NEWCASTLE Falcons’ boss Dean Richards thought injuries to key individuals played a part in a 20-7 defeat at Sale which saw his side slump to the bottom of the Gallagher Premiership table.
He said: “We were doing okay but we had three reasonably serious injuries.
“They were in areas which were pretty important.
“We are not happy with the performance from about 30 minutes onwards but there were two reasons behind that, the injuries and the two yellow cards.
“Sometimes you have to create your own luck and fair dues to Sale, I thought they played well with the intensity they wanted to on the day.”
Sale’s first victory in four games was overshadowed by a horrific injury sustained by Marland Yarde.
With five minutes to go, Yarde went down awkwardly and, although Steve Diamond was unable to confirm the extent of the injury the Sale director of rugby admitted it was a nasty one.
Dimaond said: “It was just horrendous, not nice to see.
“Unfortunately, we could see it again but we will not be watching that again.
“We will show our care for him. It is a horrendous injury, a dislocation of the knee by the looks of it, so we will see what the specialists say.”
Yarde’s injury soured what was an improved display by the Sharks as they moved above the Falcons in the table.
Despite concern for the England wing, Diamond was pleased with the victory over the visitors.
He added: “Newcastle are a topfour side, let’s be honest.
“They and ourselves have not hit form as we would have hoped.
“When you are in the competition we are in at the minute, and it is the strongest league I have coached in, you have to secure your home wins and I was delighted we did that.
“I thought we made hard work of it but we managed in the last 20 minutes to control it.
“We kept the pressure on, which forced the yellow cards, and then we were able to take advantage.”
It was an atrocious first half and it remained locked at 0-0 until Alan MacGinty broke the deadlock with a penalty before Will Welch responded with a Falcons’ try just shy of the break.
The second period was also initially low on quality in the early stages.
However, Sale increased the intensity and were rewarded through James Phillips and Bryn Evans tries.
Diamond’s men had found their rhythm and confidence and they secured the victory when Rohan Janse van Rensburg powered across the whitewash.