Despite the departure of a lot of England internationals who have gone off to chase the riches of the French League (The Falcons being the big losers losing Noon, May and most of all Wilkinson to France) and the fuore surrounding Bloodgate. It promises to be a very unpredictable league this season, any one of 5 clubs have a realistic chance of glory.

And it all started tonite with Leicester suffering a shock defeat at Sale

MY PREDICTION

1. Gloucester
2. London Irish
3. Leicester
4. London Wasps
5. Bath
6. Northampton
7. Harlequins
8. Newcastle
9. Sale
10. Saracens
11. Worcester
12. Leeds Carnegie

9 -9 not a great start

Might take a while for this new bunch to gel, not suprised as there were 12 new signings on show today. Gopperth looked dodgy with the boot but its too early to make a judgement.

At least though its a draw, thats 2 points on the board, unlike my local lot after their first ever game in the National League

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_unio...les/4777171.stm

Is George Robson the thickest person in sport? The whole sporting world has been following Harlequins after 'bloodgate' and seen how it has affected the name of rugby. Then 46 seconds in to the new season a Quins player - George Robson - goes and nuts someone and is sent off...

Well they'll try anything to detract attention away from bloodgate

But you're right, that was a sick thing to do, and so early in the game too, hopefully he'll get a lengthy ban for that.

Gopperth screwed up again. Another draw - a good result against Sale but we should have won

They're still unbeaten though, considering how well Sale played to beat Leicester last week, its a fine result.

But like i said, it'll take a while for all these new signings to gel together into a useful outfit

Leicester 15-6 Falcons, not much of an attacking threat from us but a fine defensive display which deserved better.

On a better note Westoe got their first ever national league win, after beating Loughborough 22-16

LOCAL RESULTS

GUINNESS PREMIERSHIP
Leicester ........ 15-6 ........ Newcastle

NATIONAL LEAGUE 1
Manchester ........ 12-145 ........ Blaydon
Tynedale ........ 48-23 ........ Blackheath

NATIONAL LEAGUE 2 NORTH
Harrogate ........ 3-19 ........ Caldy
Kendal ........ 44-12 ........ Hull Ionians
Loughborough Students ........ 16-22 ........ Westoe

NATIONAL LEAGUE 3 NORTH
Cleckheaton ........ 15-18 ........ West Hartlepool
Darlington Mowden Park ........ 27-37 ........ Stockport
Middlesbrough ........ 21-16 ........ Rochdale
Morley ........ 12-8 ........ Penrith

Falcons 17-17 Harlequins, 4 played, 3 draws, has any team ever done that before?

One things for sure, Steve Bates has deffo got the leaky defence sorted out, if only we can figure out how to hold onto a lead

Falcons 15-22 Sarries

Worst performance of the season from what i was hearing

One hell of a game in Italy by the sounds of it
Petrarca 27 - 29 Newcastle (HT 17 - 10) with Rob Miller getting 6 points on his debut - that puts a bit of pressure on Gopperth who started on the bench

Tries for Williamson, Williams, Ovens and Young

The Italians have been getting better so considering that (and the half time situation) its a very good win, sets them up well for that home game against Albi next week

Treviso 9-8 Perpignan underlines just how much the Italians have improved

45-3 v Albi. Top of the group and looking good for Bath next weekend

Aye, looking good finally for the Falcons, Gopperth seems to have managed to find his kicking boots

In this group though, the tough games come next, home and away to Montauban.

Just got back from Bath. Great result and a cracking weekend.

I can recommend Bath for a good pub crawl

I heard about it when i saw Westoe beat Waterloo yeserday (into the top half of national league 2 now )

TBH i never expected them to go down to Bath and win, its a sort of bogey ground for the Falcons so brilliant to come back with maximum points and a place in the top half of the league to boot. It looks promising now for next weeks game at home to Worcester

London Irish 11-15 Newcastle Falcons

What a win that is away to one of the best, free-scoring teams in the league, it means that the Falcons stay 6th but are now just 3 points off the top 3


TABLE

1. Saracens ........ 32
2. London Irish ........ 26
3. Northampton ........ 23
4. London Wasps ........ 22
5. Leicester ........ 21
6. NEWCASTLE ........ 20
7. Sale ........ 17
8. Gloucester ........ 14
9. Worcester ........ 13
10. Harlequins ........ 13
11. Bath ........ 11
12. Leeds Carnegie ........ 8

Damn!!!! I could have gone to the game but didn't think it was worth it.

Great result

Aye, they're proving a lot of people wrong, nearly every pundit had them in a relegation scrap with Leeds but Steve Bates' gamble on bulldozing the squad for a fresh start is paying off, Gopperth is getting better as well, he kicked all the Falcons points.

Hell with relegation, Heineken cup qualification is definitely on

F*!$@!!! *!X*!!%

We lost at home to LEEDS!!!!!

Next up Wasps away. I go every year and we invariably get thumped

I'm off to Adams Park for our annual mauling by Wasps. The ground will be firm and it will be freaking freezing.

We are serious underdogs for this game but perhaps the conditions will help. If we atatck their scrum we mave have a chance...... maybe

What mauling???

WASPS 6-12 NEWCASTLE

F-f-f-fucking Brrrrrrrrilliant!!!! Well worth freezing my bollocks off.

Time for curry and

HEINEKEN CUP QUARTER FINAL LINE-UP

1. Munster ........ v ........ Northampton Saints
2. Biarritz ........ v ........ The Ospreys
3. Toulouse ........ v ........ Stade Francais
4. Leinster ........ v ........ Clermont Auvergne

AMLIN CHALLENGE CUP QUARTER FINAL LINE-UP

1. Connacht ........ v ........ Bourgoin
2. Toulon ........ v ........ Llanelli Scarlets
3. London Wasps ........ v ........ Gloucester
4. Newcastle Falcons ........ v ........ Cardiff Blues

That must be the worst performance in european rugby by English clubs in recent years, only Northampton getting into the last 8 of the Heineken Cup and 4 english clubs in total getting into the knockout stages overall, the likes of Leicester,S arries and London Irish all failing miserably.

Im happy we've got a home draw in the quarters, although if we get past Cardiff, there is the mouth watering prospect of facing Toulon and we know who plays for them now dont we?

We got a thumping from Cardiff at the weekend Cardiff Blues 45-24 Newcastle, although we did field a weakened team and still ran in four tries in a ten try thriller.

An absolute mauling by Saracens yesterday, that leaves the Falcons only 3 points off relegation.

The Falcons need a result at Quins next Saturday. I've got my ticket. My two previous games were the away wins against Wasps and Bath, so I'm hoping that my personal lucky streak continues

More importantly, they need a win ato home to Gloucester this Wednesday.

At least good old Westoe managed a shock win away at Fylde on Saurday, which will have pissed off a certain Bill Beaumont

Great perfomance by Gopperth

Bring on the Quins

Aye, crucial win that was. Of the remainign games though, they need to beat Quins to be totally sure of safety because the final 3 league games look like this

April 18th : Leicester (h)
April 23rd : Sale (a)
May 8th : London Wasps (h)

My local lot are doing great though in their first ever season in the national league, anything from the home game against the Ionians on Saturday guarantees survival and a top 5 finish is certainly not impossible

NATIONAL 2 NORTH (Top Half)

1. Loughborough ........ 24 : +486 : 104
---------------------------------------------------
2. Macclesfield ........ 23 : +543 : 99
3. Caldy ........ 24 : +344 : 97
4. Harrogate ........ 24 : +105 : 76
5. Hull ........ 25 : -52 : 65
6. WESTOE ........ 24 : -44 : 64
7. Rugby ........ 25 : +50 : 62
8. Fylde ........ 24 : -41 : 59

Beating Sale may be enough. I didn't expect them to struggle as they have

Neither did I, then again they've had monumental problems on and off the field.

Also isnt it weird to see the only 3 northern teams in the league occupying 3 of the bottom 4 spots

A very poor game yesterday. Quins were there for the taking but the FAlcons showed little ambition.

We had their scrum rocking but elected to kick for goal when a 5 metre scrum under the posts was on offer.

The game was a microcosm of everything that is wrong with English Rugby

Another hiding by Cardiff Blues. 20-55 Ouch

The Falcons are finally safe after a thrilling and crucial 32-30 win over Sale.

Gopperth was immense kicking 22 points and also getting a try of his own

BOTTOM

7. London Harlequins ........ 41
8. Gloucester ........ 40
9. NEWCASTLE ........ 36
10. Sale ........ 32
11. Leeds Carnegie ........ 32
-------------------------------------
12. Worcester ........ 26

It all means one thing, Worcester need to get a maximum points win in the relegation crunch match with Leeds or they can pretty much forget about survival

Great news!
All we need to do now is find a replacement for Hayman

Its all over, Leeds won 12-10 and Worcester are relegated

7. London Harlequins ........ 41
8. Gloucester ........ 40
9. Leeds Carnegie ........ 36
10. NEWCASTLE ........ 36
11. Sale ........ 32
-------------------------------------
R. Worcester ........ 27

Who'll replace them though, well The Championship's going through a playoff phase at the moment with Bristol and Exeter Chiefs already qualifying for the semi-finals, London Welsh and Bedford are favourites to join them.

The England Elite and Saxons squads were announced today. The Falcons have one player in the 60 - Golding in the Saxons.

This does no say much for the current Falcons side

Opening games for next season

Exeter ........ v ........ Gloucester
Leeds ........ v ........ Bath
London Irish ........ v ........ Saracens
Northampton ........ v ........ Leicester
Sale ........ v ........ NEWCASTLE
London Wasps ........ v ........ Harlequins

And the European Draws

HEINEKEN CUP

POOL 1: Cardiff, Northampton, Edinburgh, Castres
POOL 2: Leinster, Clermont-Auvergne, Saracens, Racing-Metro
POOL 3: Munster, The Ospreys, London Irish, Toulon
POOL 4: Biarritz, Bath, Munster, Aironi
POOL 5: Leicester, Llanelli, Perpignan, Benetton Treviso
POOL 6: Toulouse, London Wasps, Glasgow, Newport-Gwent

AMLIN CHALLENGE CUP

POOL 1: Harlequins, Connacht, Bayonne, Cavalieri Prato
POOL 2: Sale, Brive, Petrarca Padova, Cetransa El Salvador
POOL 3: Bourgoin, NEWCASTLE, Montpellier, Exeter
POOL 4: Stade Francais, Parma, Leeds, Bucuresti
POOL 5: Gloucester, Agen, Rovigo, La Rochelle

Didnt expect much really, if you believe Dave Thompson, they're under financial strain so much, we're forced to let our star names go, Golding is probably the only England starlet left...




...and apparently Leicester want him.

The Falcons came back from 17-3 down to win 29-17 last night. A great improvement on last week

And important too, with Exeter beating Gloucester last week, the relegation fight could be very tight this year, us Exeter, Leeds, Sale and probably even Harlequins all in the mix.

But I guess all that talk of the Falcons looking promising despite losing at Sale last week has been proved right and if it was'nt for their indiscipline then they could have ran Sale close. But from what I heard last night, it was a much more clean performance, they didnt give away penalties willy nilly and also great to see Gopperth have another great night kicking 19 points.

Keep this up and a 9th place finish I think could be a very realistic hope.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_unio...ish/9406276.stm

<phew> Now PLEASE, no more relegation scares

BOTTOM SIX

7. London Harlequins ........ 39
8. London Wasps ........ 34
9. Exeter Chiefs ........ 32
10. Sale Sharks ........ 21
11. NEWCASTLE FALCONS ........ 16
----------------------------------------
12. Leeds Carnegie ........ 9

That was a very good defensive performance yesterday. We should be safe this season but the management have got to inject some attacking flair into the side.

The Falcons have been a very dull team to watch this season - Alan Tait is the Rugby equivalent of Allardyce

Well it's difficult, he's had to get rid of nearly all the star names cos they're running on a shoestring, considering that he's done admirably so far, and if staying up means resorting to defensive tactics then so be it.

It's not a bad thing though, my local lot Westoe are currently in a promotion spot in National 2 and they've based their success on a rock solid defensive pack, intact half the Falcons backs were part of our championship winning National 3 North team 2 years ago.

Cracking win against Quins last night - only on epoint behind Sharks now!

More importantly, 11 points clear of Leeds with them still to come to Kingston Park

Just goes to show how important that win was last week

Today jsut emphasised how crucial that win over the Quins was. Because Leeds went today and pulled off a stunning win over London Irish

TABLE NOW (Played - Points)

1. Leicester ........ 17 - 57
2. Saracens ........ 17 - 55
3. Gloucester ........ 15 - 49
4. Bath ........ 15 - 40
---------------------------------
5. London Irish ........ 17 - 39
6. Northampton ........ 15 - 39
7. Harlequins ........ 17 - 39
8. London Wasps ........ 17 - 38
9. Exeter ........ 16 - 36
10. Sale ........ 16 - 22
11. Newcastle ........ 15 - 20
---------------------------------
12. Leeds Carnegie ........ 15 - 13

Next though for Newcastle is 2 tough trips to Saracens and Gloucester while Leeds go to Sale and before that, play their game in hand at home to Northampton

Crisis? What Crisis? THE FALCONS ARE GOING TO THE CUP FINAL!!!!!!!!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_unio...ish/9417504.stm

The final is at Northampton, only an hour's drive for me. I'm off to get my tickets