Brocklebank fully focused for London Irish
The league’s most northerly side are chasing their first win at Gtech Community Stadium after losing on their previous two visits, but have form on their side after winning their last two in the league.
“We’d had a good result down at Gloucester in our previous Premiership game, and were looking to use that as a stepping stone going into last weekend’s home win over Exeter,” said the loose-head.
“The idea was to keep moving forward as a team, turn up with the right attitude and make sure we got our basics right. Against Exeter it comes down to who can hold on to the ball the longest, and the lads did the job well in the end.
“Hats off to Guy Pepper for scoring his try and contributing well, and hopefully we can continue that momentum on Saturday down at London Irish.”
The Exiles remain bottom of the standings going into Saturday’s 3pm kick-off in Brentford, but were within a whisker of winning away at Leicester Tigers last weekend.
“We’re not going to get ahead of ourselves after a couple of wins,” said Brocklebank.
“The league table doesn’t mean that someone is a bad team because they’re at the bottom – games are so close these days and they’re being decided by fine margins.
“We’ve been down there ourselves and Irish will obviously want to pull themselves off the bottom, but they were only one score away from winning away against the champions last weekend.
“That’s how good this league is and how close things are, so there’s absolutely no danger of us taking them lightly. They’ve got a good forward pack and plenty of threat in the backs, and our analysis this week has shown up lots of positive things from their side.
“They have a lot of internationals, their set-piece is good and we’ll have to be even better than we were last week if we’re going to get the win down there. We made mistakes against Exeter which London Irish can capitalise on, and there’s been a big effort this week around polishing up those areas.
“If we’re not careful this weekend we can get stung down there, and we’re paying absolutely no attention to the league table.”
The fact that Newcastle have lost on both of their previous trips to the Gtech Community Stadium does not weigh heavily on Brocklebank’s mind, with the prop seeing it as a potential motivation tool.
“I don’t think that gets in people’s heads in a negative way, but you can always use it as motivation in wanting to change the outlook and put the stat to bed,” he said.
“We just need to keep level heads after a couple of wins and not start taking things for granted, and I know the boys will do that.
“Part of the frustration previously was because we’ve not been that far away in some of the games we’ve lost, and it’s been nice to overcome some of those hurdles and get the wins under our belt. But we know Saturday will be a big test.”
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