Diamond reacts to Gloucester loss
Newcastle Falcons boss Steve Diamond admitted a poor first half cost his side dear as they fell 36-7 in Saturday’s Gallagher Premiership trip to Gloucester.
Speaking after the Kingsholm clash, during which his side trailed 26-0 at the break, the director of rugby said: “We didn’t show up in the first half and our basics let us down.
“Against a team like Gloucester who’ve shown from day one that they’re going to run the ball, I thought defensively we were all over the show.
“When we did get the ball we ran into touch a couple of times, and you’ve got to respect the ball.
“Gloucester’s half-backs control the play well, and when all of those factors combine you won’t get anything other than that result.”
A Jamie Blamire try and a Brett Connon conversion provided their only points of a second half in which they were much more competitive, Diamond stating: “We dug in during the second half and I thought the performance was a lot better, but the game was basically gone by that stage.
“Gloucester are a good side and they’re one of the most dominant in the league with the ball in the opponents’ 22, and we weren’t able to put any pressure on them at all.
“They hardly had to defend apart from one spell in the second half, and our set-piece didn’t fire. They’re the basic of rugby which you have to address every week, and it’s not acceptable for us.
“We might have a squad which doesn’t cost as much as the others but that doesn’t excuse us from not being able to do our basic jobs, and it wasn’t good enough.”
Heading to Caldy next Saturday as attention turns towards the Premiership Rugby Cup, Diamond said: “We’ve now got a couple of weeks in the Prem Cup, and the squad will be moved around.
“We’ll still treat the competition with respect but there are a number of guys who have played a lot of minutes, so there’ll be some rotation.
“It won’t be a holiday period but some guys have played 80 minutes six weeks in a row, and you have to accept those lads will be rested. But we’ll still be fielding strong teams and looking to attack the competition.”