RICHARDS PLEASED WITH ‘SECOND-HALF DOMINANCE’
Watching his side dominate proceedings in the second-half, Richards remained unnerved by the scoreboard as the Falcons looked to press home their superiority upfront.
And two penalties in the last 15 minutes including Joel Hodgson’s decisive penalty three minutes from time sealed the Falcons’ nineteenth Championship win of the season as they continue their march towards the play-offs.
“I wasn’t worried about losing the game,” said Richards.
“I said to our team manager John Stokoe with 25 minutes to go that we would win, and in the end we got the result that we wanted,” he added.
Played in wintry conditions at Meadow Lane, both sets of players were challenged by the elements.
Richards said: “We have got to play the conditions a little better than what we did, and at times we should have put more pressure on Nottingham with perhaps a kick into the corner or an up-and-under.
> “We probably tried to play too much rugby in the wrong areas of the
> field, and we have got to learn from that as we might have the same
> sort of weather come May.”
Despite the narrow margin of victory, the Newcastle boss was satisfied with another ‘W’ next to his side’s name.
“We got the win and that is what we came for,” said Richards.
He added: “The pleasing thing for us is that we had total dominance in the second-half which is what we asked of the boys, and they produced it and we are happy.
“The try that we conceded was when Ally Hogg was in the bin, and to their credit they responded very well to our opening try.
“We missed some good opportunities and we also missed some kicks too which was quite interesting, so the score could have been much wider in the end.”
The Falcons next home game is against Jersey on Friday 29 March (kick-off 5pm). Tickets are still available by calling the Falcons Ticket Hotline on 0871 226 6060 or click here to purchase online.
