Dean Richards relieved after Falcons’ win over Bears

Planet Rugby

Newcastle Falcons director of rugby Dean Richards was a relieved man after his team’s victory against Bristol Bears in their Premiership clash at Kingston Park on Saturday.

In what proved to be a scrappy encounter, with both sides wasting several opportunities, the home side eventually claimed a 13-5 win courtesy of a converted Callum Chick try just before the interval and two late penalties from fly-half Brett Connon.

Falcons climbing the table

The result means the Falcons move up to fifth position on the Premiership table and Richards was full of praise for a good all-round performance from his charges.

“It wasn’t a particularly entertaining game,” said Richards.

“It was in some respects but not in others but to win and get our third win of the season out of five, I’m happy with that.

“The two penalties from Brett took the game away at the end, and I thought we were a little bit unlucky we put all the pressure on them and we didn’t quite get over the line.

“Numerous times we were there and we just couldn’t take it. We had about 60% territory in the first half and to make that count, we needed the points.

“Even then, going into the second half, we needed to score a few more points and we sort of faltered a little bit in that first 15 to 20 minutes.

“But the replacements coming off the bench made a huge difference. Jamie Blamire again got two steals which I thought was outstanding.”

While the win sees Newcastle move up to fifth, it leaves Bristol in 12th.

Pat Lam’s men lost four games in the regular season last year, a feat they have already matched this campaign through five rounds.

And the Bristol director of rugby bemoaned a host of errors and inaccuracies that cost the Bears.

“I can’t fault the effort,” said Lam.

“We had a lot of opportunities to win the game.

“Unfortunately, individual errors cost us, whether that’s missing touch, turning the ball over by the way that we carried the ball. We trained it all week and when we did it, we did it superb.

“It’s a reflection on getting those sorted when we go away this time but there was a lot of effort.

“Our defence was much better and today it just feels like we gifted that game over. At the end of the day we say ‘we’, and it is ‘we’ because we’ll take the hit but there’s a lot of me out there.

“They’ve got to sort that out. The boys were hurt in that sense but ultimately we’ve got to finish this first stage.

“We’ve got a bit of a break now and we’ll launch the second part of our season.”

Luke Cowan-Dickie an injury concern for England

Meanwhile, England will be sweating over the fitness of Luke Cowan-Dickie after the hooker limped out of Exeter’s 27-23 win over Wasps on Saturday.

Cowan-Dickie rolled his left ankle in the Coventry clash, with England head coach Eddie Jones announcing his squad for the end-of-year Tests on Monday.

The front-row, who started England’s last two Six Nations matches this year and two of the Lions’ Tests in South Africa, was treated on the pitch for three minutes before leaving it unaided having landed on his left knee after a tackle and catching his ankle awkwardly.