Falcons refocus with time in the great outdoors
NEWCASTLE full-back Simon Hammersley believes a week of team bonding in the Lake District has put the Falcons in great shape to banish their relegation worries.
Rooted at the foot of the table with ten games left, last season’s play-off semifinalists have failed to achieve the consistency to back-up that success.
But Hammersley insists they are not far away. Fresh from signing a new two year-contract, Hammersley told The Rugby Paper: “It’s just been small margins. Last year we won a lot of games on the last play or by one or two points, this time we’ve been on the wrong side of a few of those.
“We’re only just over halfway through the Premiership campaign so the message from Dean Richards is there’s no reason to panic. We’re not far off, it’s completely in our own destiny if we can rediscover our form and create momentum.”
Falcons took to the hills ahead of yesterday’s Premiership Cup clash at Northampton, taking the opportunity to train at England star Mark Wilson’s old club. Hammersley explained: “About 40 of us went straight after the Sale game last week and trained at Kendal RFC, which was a pretty smart facility.
“A lot of teams will have used this period to reassess things and what they need to tinker with, so it was good to bring the squad together at a crucial time.
“We went rock climbing, trained, had meetings, went out for dinners together and did some bonding – just trying to get a bit more direction into the next block of league games.
“Bath away will be a pretty hard place to start but we’ll back ourselves, and if we play as well as we know we can, we can kickstart things.”
Despite Newcastle’s parlous position, Hammersley insists his decision to resign was easy.
“It made most sense to stay,” said the Hull-born 25year-old. “I really enjoy it here, my girlfriend’s with me and they’re a great bunch of lads. The coaching’s good and hopefully there’s a lot more to come from me, so it’s a good fit.”
Having been involved with the Saxons in 2016, the dashing Hammersley still retains the ambition of following Wilson into the full England set-up.
He added: “Mark’s flying and he’s so reliable. It’s just great to see him manage to take it on to that stage and it’s a big inspiration to us.
“Last year I thought I was missing a bit of the Xfactor I had in previous seasons, but this year I’ve been pleased with my counter-attacking and running game.
“Hopefully, we’ll now start playing a bit more of the attacking brand of the last few seasons and that will give me a chance to shine.”