Palframan focused on Tigers test
The tight-head was a summer signing from Worcester Warriors, but has had his season curtailed by injury.
Now recovered from the ankle ligament damage he sustained during November’s victory away to Exeter, the 28-year-old is putting his hand up for the televised cup clash, determined to get results back on an upward trajectory.
“It’s been a frustrating start for me with Newcastle because I went off early against Bath, then again down at Exeter, and of course I would have wanted more game time,” said the South-African-born scrummager.
“I damaged some ligaments in my ankle which needed to be repaired, and that took a bit of time, but all in all I’ve enjoyed being in Newcastle.
“It’s a great group of lads, I enjoy living up here and it’s a great city, and I’m just keen to try and get stuck into some more of the games now that I’m fit and available for selection. It’s great to be back in training with the boys again, and trying to fight my way back into the team.”
Confident that the Premiership Cup can be a useful avenue for the Falcons to regain winning ways, Palframan said: “There’s definitely a feeling among the boys that we’ve seen an upturn in the performance levels over the last few weeks, although we obviously share the frustration of our supporters in terms of turning that into results.
“We haven’t been winning games, but there have been positive aspects that we can take from those last three or four weeks. We haven’t been getting over the line and that’s obviously not good enough, because we’re here to win and everybody is working hard towards that.
“We’re not satisfied to come out every week and be saying ‘let’s take the positives’ but on the same note we’ve all got the belief within the group that we can take that extra step to start getting the results in our favour.
“Hopefully Friday against Leicester can see us turning the corner and getting that ‘W’.
“We want to go out there and put in a performance that we can be proud of, and we’ll start winning rugby games when we do that. The guys who are going out on Friday night all know how important it is that we start turning in some positive results, and regardless of what competition we’re playing in we just want to win.”
He added: “The Premiership Cup normally brings an opportunity for a number of guys to come in and stake their claim, and we’ll just have to see how we go in terms of the team we put out on Friday.
“There’ll be some guys who haven’t played in a while who will want to come in and take their opportunity, and this is a great stage to get some minutes on the field.
“You 100% know what you’re getting with any Leicester Tigers team, regardless of the personnel and the tournament.
“They’ve played some really good rugby this season, and whatever team they put out it will be a tough game.”
[**Click here to book tickets for Friday’s 7.45pm kick-off.**][1]
Season ticket members are reminded that this game is already included in their 2021-22 package.
[1]: https://www.eticketing.co.uk/newcastle-falcons/EDP/Event/Index/1712
