Coaches Thoughts – Mark Laycock pre Enisei
Falcons coach Mark Laycock is looking forward to seeing the club debuts of Jamie Booth and Callum Chick in Saturday’s game against Enisei STM and believes that a focused mentality can set the team up well.
Speaking to Falcons TV before setting off to the Black Sea coast, Laycock said he was looking forward to seeing a team with youth and experience play.
“There is definitely a balance of experience and youth, we have a couple of guys making their debuts in Jamie Booth at scrum half and Callum Chick at number eight.”
“Jamie is new to the club so it will be good to see what he can do from the first minute while Callum has been waiting in the wings for a few weeks, in and around squads, getting five or ten minutes off the bench. This is his chance to step up and make a mark as he has been going well this year.”
“Then you have your Richie Mayhews and your Juan Socinos to give us some really experience in there. We are looking forward to it and it will be a good game.”
Comfortably the longest away trip of the season, there are plenty of potential pit falls that could catch the side out this weekend, with pool rival’s Brive Correze have already serving as a warning to Newcastle, after being edged out 10-7 in round three back in December.
With their opponents having improved markedly over the course of this season’s Challenge Cup, Laycock still believes the key to success in Sochi comes from inward focus.
“The game will be as tricky as we make it! It’s up to us to make sure we turn up mentally and then physically we are on the front foot. We saw when they came to Kingston Park they are a good side and they have moved on a lot since we last played them.”
“They are a lot more ambitious; they play from deep, move the ball with width and look after the ball a lot better. We are aware of the threats the pose and will give them full respect as a opponents, but we are going to focus on what we are going to do.”
For the full interview with Mark, [click here][1] for Falcons TV
Saturday’s round five fixture kicks off at 11am UK time with a live stream available by [clicking here][2]
[1]: https://youtu.be/vlaMYANU0Tc
[2]: http://www.enisei-stm.ru/video/
