Newcastle Falcons boss Steve Diamond was largely satisfied on Saturday as his side opened their Premiership Rugby Cup account with a 33-12 victory at Caldy.

Speaking after the Paton Field clash, the director of rugby said: “It was a highly competitive game but there was a little bit of difference in size and speed, with being fully professional and playing in the competition we do.

“Caldy played well and they should be proud of what they put out there today, because we had to work for it. They’re a very good defensive side and were hard to break down, and we were disappointed by our error rate in the first half.

“It was a no-win scenario in some ways because most people will have been expecting us to win, but you’ve still got to go out there and do it. Ultimately we did do that, we freshened up the team and a lot of the lads who played will be better off for the experience.”

Given a warm welcome by the Championship side, Diamond added: “Caldy is a great club, I’ve been here many times before with being from the North West and I think it’s great that the Championship teams are in the Prem Cup. They’d done their homework on us, it wasn’t easy but we came through it in the end.

“Some of our experienced lads like Brett Connon, Seb de Chaves and Kiran McDonald got some much-needed minutes, as did a number of younger lads, and it’s a competitive squad.

“Adam Radwan came into the team late after Louis Brown pulled out with a hammy, Jamie Blamire wanted to come as water boy and it just shows how much these lads love the club, to want to do that.

“We’ll go strong at home to Doncaster next weekend, and a lot of the guys who were rested for Caldy will come back in. We ticked the boxes today, but we’ll be looking to take it up a notch next weekend.”