Richards condems Falcons indiscipline
Dean Richards laid into the indiscipline of his Newcastle Falcons players as nine Billy Twelvetrees penalties propelled Gloucester to a 39-27 Aviva Premiership victory on Friday.
The Falcons’ director of rugby lambasted his side’s repetitive infringements within the kicking range of Gloucester fly half Billy Twelvetrees, who converted nine of the eleven kicks taken as a result.
Richards said: “Our discipline on the night was woeful, and it wasn’t a case of touch-and-go decisions not going our way. Conceding 13 penalties, 11 within kicking distance, tells the story of the night.”
“It was the really stupid penalties given away by senior players which amazed me, and it will make for an interesting day in the office on Monday. It was absolutely ridiculous and it wasn’t much better in the second half. Whenever we got back into the contest we gave away another stupid penalty.”
“Some of them were so ridiculous that you can’t believe they would ever do it again. You almost want to bury it and put it behind you, but it does infuriate you.”
Asked what was said in the dressing room at half-time, the former England and Lions star said: “We were 27-3 down, and the players sat down and tried to rationalise it.”
That rationalising did yield some reward with two well crafted tries for Simon Hammersley and Chris Harris and a good driving maul score for George McGuigan but for Richards, this offered little in the way of comfort.
“If you ask me Gloucester took their foot off the gas in the second half. They made a few changes, had the dominance in the scrum during the first half but allowed us back into the game after that.”
“It was nice to see but it probably hid the errors and the indiscipline we had shown during the first half. The way we battled back in the second half was pleasing up until the point where we gave away another stupid penalty, and in doing so blew the chance of two bonus points.”
With Northampton next up, Richards said: “The games come thick and fast in the Premiership but that is the beauty of this league. We have got a squad of players out there who if they are on form should have won this game, but they didn’t.”
“Gloucester will be disappointed to have let us back into the game. We ended up outscoring them three tries to two but at the same time the big influence on the game was our indiscipline.”
