Newcastle Falcons head coach Alex Codling insisted a lack of first-half physicality cost his side dear during Saturday’s 60-7 defeat at Leicester Tigers.

The Premiership Rugby Cup clash saw the Falcons trailing 39-0 at half-time before upping their intensity after the break, Codling stating: “First and foremost I want to pay massive credit to Leicester.

“I thought they were physical, direct, abrasive, ruthless and everything else that we weren’t during the first half.

“We were way off in that opening 40, and as much as that’s disappointing from our side you also have to hold your hands up and credit Leicester for how well they played.

“The positives for us were we improved a lot in the second half.

“I thought our bench made a massive difference, and it was 7-7 in the second half until five minutes from the end.

“We showed a huge amount of resilience and courage in that second half even though the game was effectively gone, but there’s no hiding from the fact it’s been a tough day at the office. You can’t dress it up any other way.”

Having won their previous three games in the competition, Codling added: “We’re a new coaching group with a lot of new players as well, and we’ve used 36 guys during the four games.

“We’ve learnt a hard lesson today that if you don’t turn up with the right mind-set and the right intent you don’t give yourself the best opportunity.

“On the flip side we had that in the second half, but if you ever want a more stark difference between one game and the next, I doubt you’ll find one bigger than last week against Sale to today at Leicester.

“The results were very different as a consequence, but we’ve got one game left in the competition against Caldy next Sunday.

“It’s an opportunity for people to put their hand up.

“It’s about challenges, selection headaches and people pushing for the jersey. Some guys have done that for the last three weeks and not done it today, but next week is another opportunity.”

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