In the week that he makes his 50th appearance for the club, Newcastle captain Carl Hayman has spoken of the Falcons' determination to record their third successive Guinness Premiership away win.

Following victories at Bath and London Irish, Newcastle make the trip to Gloucester on Saturday looking to build on their top-half-of-the-league position.

“They were two very different games down at Bath and London Irish, in terms of style, but it’s nice to know that the guys believe in themselves enough to go to those sorts of places and win,” said Hayman, the former All Black prop who joined the Falcons almost two years ago to the day.

“That hasn’t always been the case here, and quite often we’ve gone through a whole season winning either just one or two away games. To have two under the belt already I think speaks volumes about the guys’ desire as a group to do well, and it’s a big chance for us on Saturday.”

Going into the game on the back of a 28-8 home defeat to Northampton, despite having been level at half-time, Hayman said: “We’ve had a few more days to prepare this week, the bodies are back up to the 100 per cent mark and we’re keen to get things going again.

“We were behind the eight ball against Northampton, which was disappointing for the boys because we were all keen to really put on a show for our home fans. We’d had a big game at London Irish five days earlier, and I think that probably showed in the second half because we ran out of steam a bit with such a short recovery period between games.

“It was frustrating for everyone, especially the second half, but Saturday down at Gloucester is a great opportunity to put things right. We’ve got eight days between matches, the boys have prepared thoroughly and we should be a lot better for it.”

With the trip to Kingsholm seeing Hayman’s Falcons lining up in front of one of rugby’s iconic terraces, the imposing tight head said: “I know a wee bit about The Shed, having played there a few times now.

“You can certainly hear the noise during the game when you’re out there, but I think it’s more the guys on the bench who cop the brunt of it when they have to do their warm-ups in that area.

“It’s one of the great things about rugby though, those guys are passionate about their footy and the banter is always good-natured in my experience. Our travelling support is really strong these days and those guys will be right behind us, so everyone is looking forward to a great atmosphere down there.”

Saturday’s trip also gives Hayman the chance to renew acquaintances with former All Black team mate Greg Somerville, saying of his countryman: “It will be great to catch up with Yoda [Somerville] and by the looks of their pitch it will be a pretty forward-dominated encounter.

“Gloucester have had a little bit of an interesting start to the competition, and hopefully we can take advantage of that rough trot down there this weekend. They’re still a very good side though, no doubt about it, and when you look at their roster they have great players available in all areas.”

With just seven points separating tenth and fifth places, Hayman added: “It’s just the nature of the Guinness Premiership that the league is so close, and any team can beat any other side on their day.

“It’s led to a bit of a log-jam in the middle of the table with a lot of sides hovering around that 20-point mark, and what it means is that anyone stringing together a couple of wins can really fly up the standings.

“If we could record victories at Gloucester and then after Christmas at home to Leeds it sets us up to really attack the second half of the season.

“Even after Friday’s defeat we’re still placed in the top half of the table, that’s a sign of progress for the club from where we were but we know we can still build on it even further.

“We’ll be disappointed if we don’t kick on from here and register a few more points from the next couple of games, so there’s certainly plenty to play for.”