By Steve Bardell
March 7 2007

Newcastle may be languishing near the foot of the table, but a look at their recent home form shows a list of scalps from the ‘who's-who’ of European rugby. So why are they only tenth? Newcastle dispatched reigning Guinness champions Sale on Boxing Day, Leicester Tigers a few days after they’d beaten us, former European Champions Brive and most recently our old mates London Wasps. And as well as winning, they racked up a shed-load of points on the way. So why are they only tenth? It’s because their form on the road is about as good as the Italian army (after Julius Caesar was sacked as manager), although in fairness they did win at Sale in November, and were unlucky at Bristol recently.

At the end of last season Newcastle took what seemed to be a massive gamble by releasing a number of the ageing stars- Stuart Grimes, Colin Charvis, Owen Finnegan and Luke Gross departing to leave an already under-powered pack looking paper thin. After a shaky start to the season, re-enforcements were not long in being summoned, most notable All-Black prop Joe McDonnell, fellow Kiwi lock Mark Sorensen and Samoan utility back Loki Crichton.

Toby Flood is the leading points scorer for Falcons this term with 71, but that only works out at a paltry 6 per match when Dame Glenda is knocking over 14. Jamie Noon and Matthew Tait (who the Sale fans think is about to join them) lead the way on the try scoring front with 4 a-piece, so it’s a damn mystery where all of their points have come from!

The Guinness website is as ever full of surprising information. Copy this into your browser- http://www.guinnesspremiership.com/5937_5941.php#5995.

That surprised you, didn’t it! Sarries the fourth most watched team in the premiership- haven’t I been telling you the crowds are bigger than the numbers quoted? Falcons on the other hand are obviously only being watched by Ant and Dec and a couple of whippets! Kingston Park is by all accounts an excellent ground however, with seating on 3 sides and a pigeon loft on the other. According to reviews on the BBC website, our hosts are well in front when it comes to bars, bogs and pies so the evening should be comfortable if nothing else for the hardy souls trekking north.

In recent years Sarries have had a smattering of success up in the icy wastes, a Jonny Wilkinson drop goal in injury time resulting in a 20-20 draw in 2004/5, whereas the season before we had gone one better with a 25-20 win thanks to good old P.Nulty weighing in with a try. This time it was awarded by Steve Lander (Tony Blair’s stunt-double) not for an irresistible shove from the forwards, but because Andy Goode was impeded after a chip forward. It must have been a McCain Oven Ready if Warney was chasing after it!

Will our unbeaten run continue? With 4 away games in our last 6 including trips a place in the top 4 will have to be won on the road, so it will jolly well have to.
I’m sure it’s going to be close, and don’t be surprised if we end up with yet another draw- that’s where my money's going.

Most interest on the team front will centre on whether Dave Seymour gets a run-out at last, and if Chris Jack’s registration comes through in time although I can’t see him pushing Simon or Fully out at the moment.
So it’s Howay from me, and Why aye from him.