Training camp just what Newcastle needed - Dickens

Newcastle Red Bulls have lost their past six games in all competitions

Early November is not the time of the season you imagine having three-day training camps. But that is exactly what Newcastle Red Bulls did to try to bring the squad together.

They took advantage of a two-week break between matches to head down to Harrogate to spend time on the training pitch and do team bonding exercises such as paintballing.

With the takeover by Red Bull not completed until early August, it was a scramble to assemble a squad for the new Prem season, so the camp is viewed as essential for building connections, according to head coach Alan Dickens.

"We would have preferred to do this in July, but the circumstances meant that the squad wasn't all here," he told BBC Sport.

"I've said that we need to accelerate that bond and that friendship in terms of going on the pitch and showing that the players actually care for each other.

"Last week was a step in the right direction and something we absolutely needed."

Newcastle Red Bulls spent three days on a training camp in Harrogate

Only Argentina scrum-half Simon Benitez Cruz, who is on international duty this month, and winger Christian Wade, resting after his rugby league commitments with Wigan Warriors, did not take part in the training camp.

Flanker Tom Christie arrived from New Zealand along with recent recruits Cameron Hutchison and Stewart Moore to meet their new team-mates as Newcastle try to catch up with the rest of the league.

After five games, they are bottom of the table having lost all five, including three heavy defeats on the road, and are yet to pick up a bonus point.

While they have won one and lost one in the Prem Rugby Cup ahead of a trip to Northampton Saints on Saturday.

In the past fortnight, Neil McIlroy has started his role as sporting general manager as things continue to evolve at the club.

"We had good conversations and lots of questions about how things have gone in the last 14 months I've been here and how we can move it forward," Dickens said.

"At the minute, Neil is having a look around and deciding the importance, and then acting on the areas that need to be done immediately."