It is fair to say that Falcons full-back Greg Goosen has made a blistering start to his career on Tyneside following his switch from French Top 14 side La Rochelle.

Featuring in all of the northeasterners’ opening seven games, the South African, 28, has made quite an impression at Kingston Park.

Announcing himself on the Premiership scene with a touchdown against Leicester Tigers last month, Goosen underlined his class with a hat-trick against Cardiff Blues in the LV= Cup on Saturday night.

“I was pretty happy to score the tries but I was happier that we got a good win under our belts and it will do the boys’ morale no harm at all,” said Goosen who was keen to play down the role he played in masterminding a victory over the Welsh outfit.

“That sort of win has been a long time coming and although they brought a relatively young team it is still a good win for the boys – we were really happy,” he added.

Goosen was in predatory form, putting the Blues defence to the sword with a string of clinical finishes.

Reflecting on his three tries and man-of-the-match performance to boot, Goosen said: “One of the tries came when Jeremy Manning threw a great blindside pass to me and the other was as a result of some good work from Corne Uys who could have probably scored himself in all honesty.”

Paying tribute to a solid forwards display Goosen added: “I just finish them off – everyone else did the hard work and it just shows the team effort that we put in.

“It all came down to our forwards, who had an awesome evening out there and that make things so much easier for the backs.

“We knew that we would be able to have a go and the platform was laid for us by our forwards – I thought Jimmy Gopperth had a good game when he was supplied with the ball and he showed a lot of vision to get the backline moving.”

Newcastle who finished runners-up in the LV= Cup last term gave run-outs to a string of players who have been bursting at the seams to taste senior rugby this campaign.

Despite resting key players, Goosen insists his side are taking the competition seriously but admits the Aviva Premiership is their main priority.

He said: “It was an awesome chance for some of the other guys to get a chance and put their hand up for a game against London Irish this weekend.

“Yes the Premiership is our main priority but you never go onto a rugby field without taking the game seriously. It is nice to get a two-week break from the Premiership as it has been tough so far but this will prepare us for Northampton.

Looking ahead to this Sunday’s Anglo-Welsh clash at London Irish, Goosen is expecting a tough test from Toby Booth’s men.

“London Irish have an awesome set-up and they are a great team who always like to throw the ball around and play some running rugby,” said Goosen.

The Tyneside unit tasted defeat at the Madejski less than three weeks ago but Goosen is full of confidence going into this weekend’s game.

“Hopefully this weekend we can go down there and give it our best shot. We are building for the Premiership and we want to continue our good work in defence – it’s a chance to work on this in these games,” said Goosen.   

Newcastle’s next home game is against Worcester Warriors on Friday 4 November (kick-off 7.45pm).

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