Falcons ready to kick-start season in northern derby

NEWCASTLE prop Adam Brocklebank insists relegation is not on the agenda despite the Falcons resuming their Premiership campaign in a fortnight’s time four points adrift at the foot of the table.

In this most competitive of Premiership seasons, the demands of playing in the Champions Cup, on a lower playing budget, allied to poor luck with injuries have resulted in the Falcons falling well short of last year’s lofty standards.

After 12 rounds in 2017/18, Newcastle had accrued 15 points more than their current total of 17 and were handily placed in fifth en route to an historic place in the play-offs.

“It is definitely going to sort itself out; we are confident, and we know we can turn the season around”, the 23-year-old said unequivocally.

“There’s only small margins in this league and, as a team, we’re still taking it week by week.

“We were really disappointed with the Quins result (a 17-38 loss) but that’s the way this league is: on any day, any one team can beat another. The most disappointing thing was that we gifted them a few tries and if we’d have not done that, we’d have won.”

A Premiership Cup northern derby against Sale, at the AJ Bell Stadium, is the next challenge facing Newcastle before they travel to Bath where crucial league points are at stake.

“It’s a really good game to get up for, it’s between the two biggest teams in the north and it’s a real opportunity for us to get the ball rolling and change things,” said Brocklebank, who has been involved in all bar two of Newcastle’s Premiership matches this season.

Brocklebank, below, a west Lancastrian by birth, is relatively new to rugby having only first picked up a ball aged 15. Up until then he was more used to virtual reality combat.

“I was just your typical kid. I’d finish school and go home and jump on the XBox and go to sleep, wake up and then do the same the next day,” he said. “I did absolutely nothing outside of that and one day I just decided I needed a change. “I took GCSE PE at school and things took off from there. “One of my parents’ friends was the coach at the local rugby club in Ormskirk and he said why not give it a try. It came to me really quickly, I enjoyed how the lads came together and the social side of it.”

Having played No.8 up until the end of sixth form, Brocklebank admits he is still getting to grips with the dark arts of front row play with the help of scrum coach Micky Ward.

“I am really excited with how the season is going. Micky has been a really good mentor.

“I couldn’t really scrummage last year and he has helped me come on tenfold.”