Steve Diamond, the rugby director, acknowledged that his Newcastle Falcons squad had a fortunate escape on Sunday as they held on to defeat the Doncaster Knights 31-28 in the Premiership Rugby Cup at Kingston Park.
The Falcons manager stated: “We were fortunate to win it in the end, if I’m honest,” despite having to endure a huge comeback after leading 28-0 at the half.
With a 28-0 deficit at halftime, many teams would have conceded, but Doncaster came out fired up for the second half and appeared like they were going to win those final few minutes.
We performed a number of things well in the first half, and it appeared to be a professional effort deserving of some credit. We asked the boys to do even better during halftime.
We just stopped playing after we made a mistake during the re-start, which gave Doncaster some momentum.” We must address the causes of the deafening silence, the lack of communication, and the actions that had gone well for us in the first half.
Credit to Donny because they’re a well-coached side with a number of good players, and they played well today,” Diamond continued, capping off the game with a spectacular goal-line stand with 80 minutes remaining.
At the end, we successfully defended about 30 phases on our own try-line, which is fortunate for us because it appeared that we would lose.
The boys need to understand that once you put your foot in someone’s throat, you must stay there. In the second half, our lack of action and lack of ambition demonstrated our weaknesses. I went down pitch-side a few times, but the boys had gone into their shells, so I couldn’t hear anything.
Working on that is a continuous process for myself and the coaching staff, and you can’t say too much in the emotional moments right after a game. We’ll leave and watch the video, but it’s obvious that I’m upset with the second half.
It’s also important to keep in mind that we’ve won both of our cup games with try-bonus points, which is what I urged the guys to accomplish. Of course, there is still more to be done, but we must not lose sight of the real outcomes. A win is a win, but you can’t let the opposition back in like we did tonight when you’re up 28-0.