Powell: “We owe our fans a win”
Adam Powell cut a frustrated figure in the wake of Newcastle Falcons’ 34-28 defeat against Sale last weekend.
The centre, who scored his team’s first try during Saturday’s game, has been a mainstay of the Falcons team throughout a 2014/15 season that has seen performances continue to improve.
“The attack went well on Saturday and that’s been a massive improvement this year. We’ve been doing a lot of good stuff but if you leak 30 points a game you’re asking for trouble in this league.”
Having scored three tries and pushing for a fourth in the dying minutes of the game, the Falcons were once again agonisingly close to victory in their penultimate away game of the season, a feeling that Powell knows has become all-too familiar.
“It’s probably getting as boring for you guys as it is for us now; we’re doing lots of good stuff but our defence let us down the same as last week against Gloucester.
“We’re scoring really good tries and creating a lot and doing a lot of good stuff but we’re proving how difficult it is to get wins in this league if you’re conceding so many points.”
The Falcons made many gains in Saturday’s game, pushing the home side repeatedly on their way to the line. But a series of errors allowed Sale to take a hold on the match, scoring five tries to the Falcons’ three.
“When we had the ball we looked good but we didn’t manage to get hold of the ball for 20 minutes of the second half and let them come at us. Sale are a good team, like everyone is, so if you let them have the ball for 20 minutes it’s going to be tough to hold them out.”
With just one game left of the current season, the Falcons’ aims for Saturday’s game at home to Sale are simple, as Powell explains:
“We want to win. We keep saying we’re improving and I definitely think that’s the case but you need the results to back that up and so that’s what we want to do.
“We owe a result to our fans – they’re great and we had a lot of them travel down here and it’s not easy travelling every week. It’s looking like we’re going to have a packed house this weekend too so we owe those fans a result.
“We owe it to ourselves too. We’ve put a lot of work in this year and have been playing some good stuff but if we come out now it will feel a bit empty. There’ve been some lapses in concentration that have cost us points so we have to front up and fix that and end the season on a high.”
Newcastle Falcons’ match against Harlequins takes place at Kingston Park Stadium this Saturday, kicking off at 3.30pm.
Tickets for the game are available to buy now [online][1], in person from the Kingston Park Stadium Box Office or by calling the Falcons 24 hourTicket Hotline on 0871 226 6060, starting from £15 for adults and £7.50 for juniors.
[1]: http://www.newcastlefalcons.co.uk/Pages/Tickets/info
