Steve Diamond said Newcastle Falcons’ 32-19 defeat at Pau on Sunday was part of his side’s learning curve as they began their EPCR Challenge Cup campaign in south-west France.

A last-minute try from the home side denied the visitors a losing bonus point and handed one to the home team, with Diamond stating: “We’re disappointed but we were right in the scrap until the very last seconds.

“That last breakaway try was a bit of a gutter because we were pushing to score at one end and they intercepted to go the length, but those things happen in rugby sometimes.

“I’m not too down about it because I thought we performed well in a lot of areas.

“Our kicking in the first half let us down a little bit but we kept things very close, and it was a real arm-wrestle. The lead changed hands three or four times in the second half, we were right in the mix and the lads will have learnt a lot.”

Disappointed to lose a bonus point in the final play as Pau raced the length to secure their own four-try bonus, the director of rugby said: “We should have got at least a bonus point but we’ve come away with nothing. However, I thought a lot of the lads stood up today, and I’ve told them not to be too despondent about it.

“We’ve got the Dragons at home on Sunday to try and get ourselves going in this tournament, and we’ve got some good competition for places.

“Our young props came off the bench and performed well, I thought our attitude was good and it’s just tidying up on a couple of bits of execution that will make the difference.

“We were nearly there in the end, our driving maul and our discipline were both good for the most part and we’ll live to fight another day.

“On behalf of the entire squad and staff I would also like to thank all the supporters who came over and gave us such great backing from the stands. It was really appreciated by everyone and it’s one of the great things about rugby, in my opinion.”