Newcastle primed for crack at Challenge Cup

Newcastle are the only current Premiership club to never win a European competition

Newcastle Falcons are ready to take their improved domestic form into Europe as they begin their Challenge Cup campaign.

The Falcons head to the south of France to play Top 14 side Pau in their opening Pool 2 match.

It comes on the back of five wins in their last six matches across the Premiership and Premiership Rugby Cup, as the mood has lifted around Kingston Park.

"In this day and age, there are very few opportunities to win silverware, and clubs who are ambitious and put strong sides out can certainly have a go at it," said consultant director of rugby Steve Diamond.

'A different outlook'

The north east club are chartering a plane to fly to south west France to minimise travel time so they can give themselves as good a chance as possible of producing a strong performance against the team 10th in the Top 14.

With a trip to Ospreys sandwiched in between home games with Dragons and Montpellier, a win in Pau would put Newcastle in a strong position to aim for qualification to the knockout stages.

Last season, the Falcons only won a dead rubber away to Perpignan as they exited at the pool stage with European gloom added to their Premiership misery of losing all 18 games.

Now the mood is lifted, Diamond knows the pool stage allows Newcastle a chance to maintain their upward momentum.

"If you win two games and pick up a couple of bonus points, you can progress, so we're going to have a go at this game away from home," he said.

"It'll be difficult, but it was difficult to beat Saracens at home last week, so all is achievable. So we'll stick to what we did last Friday.

"This is a welcome distraction from the Premiership. Travelling to different places, it is a bit like the old rugby ethos, a mini tour, as we'll take an extra 10 players with us, so they can mix with sponsors.

"It's a different outlook in this competition, but we're going to take it seriously."

Line-ups

Pau: Mondinat, Grandidier-Nkanang, Klemenczak, Roudil, Arfeuil, Desperes, Souverbie; Seneca, Jooste, Zabala-Arrieta, Jolmes, Maximin, Tlili, Hewat, Hamonou.

Replacements: Delhommel, Bibi-Biziwu, Papidze, Auradou, Tagitagivalu, Daubagna, Decron, Luc.

Newcastle: Redshaw; Radwan, Hearle, Hutchison, Stevenson; Wilkinson, Pepper; McCallum, Fletcher, Palframan, de Chaves, McDonald, Lockwood, Gordon, Chick.

Replacements: Byrne, Rewcastle, Hancock, Baker, Leatherbarrow, O'Sullivan, Connon, Spencer.