Director of rugby Steve Diamond admitted his Newcastle Falcons side had been outclassed in Friday’s 26-12 home loss to play-off-chasing Gloucester Rugby.

Speaking after their final home game of the season, Diamond said: “We stuck in it but fair play to Gloucester, they’re a good team this year and fully deserved their win.

“We could possibly have nicked something at the end but we had three or four minutes of madness at the end of the first half which saw us go down to 13 men, and then a red card towards the last ten.

“We did score a couple of really good tries and I was pleased with a lot of the performances, but we’re that ‘nearly’ team at the moment.

“That sums up our season. We could have got more out of it but we didn’t, and it’s part of the learning curve that we’re on. Hopefully that will be one of the last losses we have here for a long time.”

Ending their campaign with a trip to Leicester Tigers in a fortnight’s time, the Falcons boss said: “Leicester away in two weeks will be the last game for a number of our players, and it’s always a difficult game down at Welford Road.

“We don’t lack heart or endeavour but we’re not good enough sometimes, and that proved to be the case today. We’ve got to take our opportunities but we just couldn’t do it, and three or four times we were held up over the line.

“Our endeavour can’t be questioned, we’ve got a great set of lads and I don’t think we could have got any more out of the game than we did.

“We all know we need some investment, but I can’t criticise those lads out there on the field cos they’re giving me their all.”