Diamond desperate for Newcastle to get competitive

Steve Diamond was director of rugby at Sale Sharks from 2011 to 2020

Newcastle Falcons consultant director of rugby Steve Diamond is desperate for his side to find their competitive streak after a losing start in the Premiership.

The Falcons sit bottom of the table after opening with three straight defeats by a combined margin of 67 points.

Their losing streak in the league now stretches to 24 games as they play away to Sale Sharks on Friday night (19:45 BST).

"That's all I'm asking for at the moment, that we become a competitive team," said Diamond.

In losing their opening three games, Newcastle have shipped 15 tries and managed only three of their own.

Exeter Chiefs have also lost all three matches, but they have managed to accrue two bonus points by losing by fewer than seven points.

So it already leaves the Falcons playing catch-up and particularly after a seven-try defeat at home to Leicester Tigers last Saturday, Diamond is demanding an improvement.

"We're not even competitive and that's what we've got to be," he added. "That's the most frustrating thing.

"It's embarrassing going for a paper on a Sunday morning, but you've got to be man enough to do that, get on with it, share that responsibility with your fellow coaches and take the pressure off the team."

Defeat at home to Leicester Tigers was a 24th in a row in the Premiership for Newcastle

'Player pathway takes five years'

Friday's trip to the Salford Community Stadium sees Diamond return to the club where he spent his entire playing career and then almost a decade as director of rugby before he left in 2020.

He was a teammate of Alex Sanderson in their playing days, with the 45-year-old eventually being the man to replace him as Sale's director of rugby.

But Diamond was instrumental in setting up the pathway that has seen the likes of Ben and Tom Curry, Raffi Quirke and Tom Roebuck come through to become pillars of the team and England internationals.

That is something he hopes to tap into during his stay at Kingston Park to make Newcastle more competitive.

"You always get one or two players a year, but to get a regular conveyor belt, it probably takes you five years," he said.

"The talent is here. That is important, but more important is the infrastructure behind it. I built the infrastructure at Sale from 2011 onwards.

"We're putting in a similar model here. It's not rocket science, it's a case of maturation of lads at 16, not 18 as they've done in rugby league for years.

"You need to get them up to the physical size you need by 18, so you can feed them into a professional environment."