Richards left “gutted” by last gasp loss
Dean Richards admitted he was ‘gutted’ to have seen his Newcastle Falcons side lose a 42-40 thriller at Gloucester on Saturday with the final play of the game.
Billy Burns’ try saw the Cherry and Whites shade a nine-try Kingsholm classic, Richards saying: “I am gutted, to be honest with you.”
“Scoring four tries at Gloucester is always pleasing, as we did last year as well. At this time of year it is a good surface to play on, and they are a team who play a lot of rugby.”
“In the first half we were picking holes all over the place, creating a huge amount of line-breaks and just not quite finishing them off.”
“You have got to nail those chances. That is what the game is about and, had we done that, we would have just been that extra score ahead.”
With the Cherry and Whites rolling on their internationals from the bench in a power-packed finish, the director of rugby said: “We always knew they had the capability to come back with the quality of players they have got.
“They were always a threat and, when you looked at their bench, they were always going to have an impact. Having said that, Josh Furno’s try near the end probably should have sealed it, but didn’t.”
“It was one of those games whereby it could have gone either way, but we were felt we were in with a real shout. We capitalised to a degree but not as much as we should have, and it was a disappointing way in which to finish.”
Left to try and ponder the reasons for Newcastle allowing a 40-23 lead to slip, he added: “Gloucester’s bench did make an impact but for some unknown reason we tired a bit.
“Over the last 12 months we have been strong in the last 20 minutes of games. Maybe it was the quality of their bench or the fact we had made the running for most of the game, but we gave them easy points which kept them in the hunt.
“In terms of the changing room, there is not too much you can say. Everyone gave it their all, nobody took a backward step and everyone was disappointed to lose out.”
