Soaring Falcons planning for Prem

ONE by one, Newcastle are taking down their Championship opponents ‘man and ball’, with a more aggressive defensive system paying dividends in their bid to win immediate promotion back to the Premiership.

They go into today’s game at home to third-placed Cornish Pirates top of the table by some distance, having conceded an average of just 1.5 tries per game.

Flanker Callum Chick said: “Our defence has been really strong all year – only Ampthill have put four tries on us that game was done and dusted at half-time. We were 26 points up and may have switched off a bit.

“We’re more aggressive on the edge and it’s working. Last year, we spent a lot of time letting teams play, this year we’re looking to get the ball back through skill errors, making man and ball tackles and putting teams under pressure.”

Falcons kept the Pirates try-less in winning 18-9 at the Mennaye Field earlier this season. “They’re a good team and if we show any chink in our armour, they’ll take advantage,” he added.

“All we can do is play what’s in front of us and go out and win. Hopefully the performances will come after that and we’ll score loads of tries in the second half of the season.

“We’ve spoken about the standard we need to get to. In the Premiership, everyone can beat anyone. We need to be doing everything we can to be ready for that and cover off things now rather than in pre-season.”

Top try-scorer Adam Radwan, who has nine tries in 11 games, comes in on the wing with Toby Flood slotting in at inside centre.

Pirates alos make two changes with Jack Andrew and Craig Mitchell named as the props. Pirates’ director of rugby Chris Stirling said: “This will be a really good test, showing where we are and where we can be.”