Scottish international Ally Hogg has backed his Newcastle side to bounce back on Friday, as London Wasps are the Aviva Premiership visitors to Kingston Park (kick-off 8pm).

Having started his Falcons career with a defeat at Sale Sharks in last week’s opening round, Hogg said: “The boys were disappointed, as you would expect.

“We did some good things and disrupted their set piece, but the flip side was that we didn’t do anything with the ball when we had it.

“We turned over far too much possession, which is the most frustrating thing because we put in a lot of hard work and had a lot of the ball. People might say there’s not a lot you can do about handling errors, but my view is that you just can’t make them at this level and that you have to work harder at holding on to possession.

“We went too lateral at times with the ball when perhaps we should have been a little more direct. The way the game is being refereed at the minute, if you can hold onto the ball for four or five phases then you’re virtually guaranteed to get a penalty. That’s what Sale did, and we were the architects because we allowed it to happen. I’m not excluding myself from that because I gave away more than my fair share, but Sale really didn’t do anything too flash to beat us – we beat ourselves.”

Asked how Aviva Premiership Rugby shaped up to its Celtic equivalent, the former Edinburgh No.8 said: “It’s very similar, to be honest.

“It was no faster, no more intense and not massively different on any front from what I could tell. It’s still 15 versus 15, but I don’t think I could make a fair comparison between the two competitions until I’ve played a few months in the Aviva Premiership. Rugby’s rugby as far as I’m concerned, but it’s definitely an exciting league where each side has a load of quality players.”

Switching to Friday’s test against a Wasps side which drew 29-29 against Harlequins last weekend, Hogg said: “We’ve seen them play a couple of times against Quins and Glasgow in recent weeks, so we’ve done the analysis and have a good idea of what they’re about.

“It will be a new challenge from Sale because Wasps defend differently to them, but in the game last weekend both Wasps and Harlequins had periods when they were on top.”

Set to start against a formidable back row unit, he added: “Joe Worsley is a great defender, Andy Powell carries the ball well and Tom Rees goes and fetches, so you have a bit of everything in their combination if that’s who they go with.

“They’re a good trio, but then from the Falcons angle we’ve also got a lot of quality there and we’re confident we can be there competing with the best. Sure, Wasps have got big names there, but there’s no reason why we can’t take the game to them.

“We need to keep hold of the ball for at least three or four phases when we’re in the right area of the pitch, that’s the key thing. If we do that then we’re either going to put sides under pressure and find gaps, or force them into conceding penalties.

“In terms of the law interpretations last week it was a little new to people, but after round one now we have a much clearer idea of what we can and can’t get away with. We were too slow to learn last Friday compared with Sale, and we need to adapt quicker during games because the interpretations from the officials vary so much from week to week.

“It’s a case of the senior players having to take more charge in saying let’s step half a yard back from the ruck, and let’s roll away quicker because we’re just getting hammered on the penalty count. The interpretations are a bit harsh at times in my opinion because you can’t always roll away when you have four guys on top of you, but if refs are blowing for that then we just need to get on and adapt. It’s the same for both sides, or it’s certainly meant to be, so it’s up to us to make sure we eliminate those penalties.”

Having to cope with the famous Wasps defence, Hogg said: “They are always right on the edge of the offside line with the way they defend, but there are ways to exploit that and we just have to apply ourselves in getting inside and outside them.

“I don’t think they’re blitzing as hard as they did last year, but when they do it we just need to keep our depth and attack them. Their whole strategy in blitzing is that they want you to panic on the ball, but if you run hard at them they can defend a bit individually and open the door for your support runners. You have to back yourself and really attack them. We never really did that at Sale because we dropped the ball whenever we had it, but that won’t be the case this time round.

“The fact that it’s my first home game in the Aviva Premiership is also exciting from a personal point of view, and I’m looking forward to the whole experience. My friends and family are all coming down from Scotland to watch, it should be a good night and I’m buzzing about this game after all the hard work we’ve put in.”

Tickets for Friday’s game are still available by calling 0871 226 60 60, or from Kingston Park on the night.