Green buoyant about Quins clash
The lock-forward and his team were 26-19 victors when the two teams last met at Kingston Park on January 31, Newcastle winning their last two games against the London club having defeated them on the final day of last season.
Green said: “Harlequins have got a good side but we are confident going down there. It is all about us, and if we can maintain our levels over the full duration we can put in a performance and come away with the victory.
“They like to play wide, with tempo, keeping the ball alive through offloads. We need to be switched on around the rucks to their pick-and-go game, Jamie Roberts will be direct and he does that very well. We know what they are about but it us down to us to stop them, and to put our own game onto them.
“I don’t see any reason why we can’t stop them if we front up. When they carry we have to man up to them, make our tackles, and when they move it wide we have to be smart in defence. It is nothing we haven’t played against before, we are not worried as such and we know what we have to do.”
Aiming to bounce back from the blow of missing out on a bonus point against Wasps last weekend, the Norfolk native said: “Obviously we were pretty gutted about the result. We were probably in with a chance but that last try killed us off.
“We are there or thereabouts. We are putting some good things in but just not doing it over the 80 minutes. The two quick tries we conceded were just a lack of concentration, and if you switch off for even five minutes in games at this level it can decide whether you win or lose. You can’t give away those easy scores.
“If you sit and look back all the time you will never go on and move forward. Yes, we were disappointed with last week’s result, but there were some good parts to the performance and we have to build on them. We have full belief about the fact we can do that.”
Currently 11th in the league and with Aviva Premiership status still to be secured, Green remains confident the team have it within them to find the crucial results.
The former Leeds and Leicester forward said: “If we get one or two more wins we should be alright. The frustrating thing is the fact that over the last few weeks we have played some good rugby but not managed to turn it into victories. Down at Bath we were the better team but lost by two points, and even against a top side like Wasps we dominated for large parts but couldn’t convert it. That does get frustrating, but we will keep on working and it will come.
“When you look throughout the league it is competitive from top to bottom. We have beaten some top sides, we drew at Sale where nobody has won all season, and we are there or thereabouts. We have had a lot of close games and we don’t feel like we are far away.”