World news – GB – Dean Richards: « Newcastle Falcons’ return to the Premier League is huge for Northeast Rugby. »

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After winning the championship title last season, Newcastle Falcons celebrate their return to the Premier League with a trip to Bath tomorrow

When professional rugby closed in March, the game in the Northeast was going on top of a wave.

The Newcastle Falcons, the region’s club flag bearer, were racing to claim the championship and return to the Gallagher Premier League.. The happy factor created by the decision to host the World Cup matches and the European Champions Cup Final in St James’ Park was evident. Community clubs across the region were reporting record levels of interest, particularly amongst the beginners.

Eight months have passed, and the world, not to mention the sports scene, looks completely different. But when the Falcons finally take to the field tomorrow, on their return to the Premier League with a trip to Bath, rugby director Dean Richards hopes the momentum that was evident at the start of the year has not been lost.. . Much work has been done to raise the profile of rugby in the football strongholds of the Northeast – the hope is that the coronavirus has not made it redundant..

“It’s a colossal moment,” said Richards, whose team won the championship after covering two-thirds of the way last season. « It is spoiled by the fact that we cannot get supporters here – the impact of our return to the Premiership is diminished a little by the circumstances in which we find ourselves in.. But having said that, for Northeast Rugby it is still extremely important to be in the Premier League, and to stay here for as long as possible..

Hopefully we can keep the momentum going. Restarting is important, and once the community clubs start getting people back on the field again that will be another big step forward.. Hopefully there isn’t much of a setback from where we had to get before the pandemic broke out – if at all. It’s all about interacting with supporters and the wider community. We hope to get that back on track as soon as possible.  »

For now, Richards and his players will focus their efforts on trying to avoid an immediate return to the tournament.

The trends are against the Falcons – the vast majority of teams promoted to the Premier League relegated the following season – and this year the freshmen in the top flight are at a more disadvantage than usual..

While the premium clubs returned to the field to finish last season behind closed doors in the summer, teams outside the Premier League have not been able to play since March.. After leaving a large number of its players and staff during the first lockdown, Falcons did not begin training until long in the summer, and even then their plans had to be redrawn hastily after the outbreak of the Corona virus, which means that about 30 players had to isolate themselves. For two weeks because they were considered to be closely related to those who contracted the disease.

Sure, the odds are stacked against Richards as they head to Rec tomorrow, but the Falcons boss is not looking for excuses as his team prepares for a return to First Division..

He said, « It was a difficult period, but it was in the past. ». “The men are just excited to be out on the field this weekend. Despite all the hardships we’ve been through over the past eight or nine months, we’ve managed to get that behind us and we’re excited to go..

“I think people might have made us favorites, but we don’t think we are. On paper I think we have a good team, we just need to get them to play on the field. The backlog was not significant in terms of the long layoff period to begin with and then the slightly fragmented pre-season period.

“It was all a bit fragmented, but having said that, we’re training now, and even though we had two injuries, once everyone comes back, I think we have a really good team.. There is no way we can feel the label we give us.  »

The Falcons have been shaken by the departure of winger Cenote Cenote for personal reasons in preparation for the start of the weekend, but Mark Wilson must return from injury in England within two weeks. .

« Mark is two or three weeks away, » Richards said.. «  But if he had been available, he would have been absent from England for the next few weekends anyway.  »

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Newcastle Falcons, Rugby Union, Premiership Rugby, Dean Richards, Bath Rugby, Premier League