Newcastle won't finish bottom - Diamond

Steve Diamond has been with Newcastle Falcons since January

Newcastle Falcons consultant director of rugby Steve Diamond says that his team will not finish bottom of the Premiership this season.

The Falcons began the campaign with a 24-3 home defeat to Bristol Bears and travel to face Harlequins on Saturday (15:00 BST).

After losing every league match last season, their winless run in the Premiership now stretches to 22 games.

"One thing is for sure, we won't finish bottom of the league," Diamond told BBC Sport.

Newcastle trailed by just two points at half-time against the Bears, before the visitors pulled away in the second period, eventually sealing a bonus-point win.

Diamond was disappointed in how his side's lineout struggled as well as passing up a few opportunities in attack.

Financial restrictions mean Newcastle do not have the same squad depth as their Premiership rivals, but Diamond is working on making sure his side can stay in games for longer.

And he insists that their confidence has not dropped after an opening night loss.

"We've got small steps that we're trying to make and we made a few last week," he said.

"But to be a highly competitive team, I know from experience that it doesn't come in 80 minutes.

"If we had got the win last week, great, but there has been no downside in mentality.

"It's a very positive environment, the lads understand where we're at, we're not a world XV, but we're not going to be a walkover either."

Falcons bring in Dickson as skills coach

Lee Dickson won 18 England caps between 2012 and 2014

Diamond has increased his coaching team this week by signing former England scrum-half Lee Dickson.

The former Newcastle and Northampton player, capped 18 times by his country, will combine being a skills coach for the Falcons with his role as master in charge of rugby at Barnard Castle School in Co. Durham.

"Lee played hundreds of games for Northampton, won the Premiership with them, played in the European Cup final and now he's at a school in the area," Diamond said.

"Why wouldn't we use his knowledge and experience with someone like Joe Davis, who's only 18, at training?

"It works really well with him sharing a role, but he has a future as a coach."