Newcastle Falcons head coach Alex Codling admitted his side need to be more clinical having created a raft of scoring opportunities during Saturday’s 40-12 defeat at Harlequins.

Speaking after the Gallagher Premiership clash at the Twickenham Stoop, Codling said: “In the first half I thought we dominated for large parts, but it was a microcosm of our season in that we didn’t get over the line.

“We were held up or knocked on whereas Quins were more clinical, and they took the chances that we didn’t. That’s the bottom line and I know I keep saying it every week. It’s been a theme of the first four weeks and we’re just making too many mistakes. Most of them are of our own doing, and we’re coming up short.

“We’re a bit like a boxer at the moment throwing loads of jabs but not finding the knockout punch, and we’ve got Saracens at home next Sunday so we better find one quick.

“It’s a confidence thing, to an extent. We missed the kick at goal early on, which happens, we missed a try-scoring opportunity in the right corner and we found ourselves 14-0 down.

“That’s the bottom line, even though we dominated possession in the first half. We just made too many errors, we turned over a third of our own ball and you’re not going to win anything doing that.”

The former England lock said: “When I came into this job I knew it was going to be a massive challenge, but the boys are working hard and we’ll dust ourselves down for next week.

“I can’t fault the effort and ambition once again from the boys because they’re putting a shift in and we’re trying to change the way we play, which takes time.

“It was great to have our Argentina boys back. Mateo Carreras has got magic in those feet and I thought Eduardo Bello helped shore up the scrum after half-time. Matias Moroni had a gash on his shin and had to go off, but it’s great to have them all back as we look to move the team forward.

“Mateo and Radders will cause teams a lot of problems this season – we’ve just got to find a way of getting them involved more.

“Both sides tried to play positively today so in that sense it was a good advert for the league, but of course we’re disappointed by the result and we’re desperate to turn it round for our supporters who give us such great backing wherever we go.”

Newcastle Falcons are at home to Saracens on Sunday November 12.

Click here to buy tickets for the 3pm kick-off.