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What Steve Diamond said about first Newcastle win in 25 league games
By PA
Steve Diamond has expressed his delight after his Newcastle team earned a long-awaited Gallagher Premiership victory with a 24-18 win over Exeter at Kingston Park. A hard-fought Friday night performance saw the Falcons end a 25-game losing streak thanks to tries from Philip van der Walt and Jamie Blamire, who crossed twice, along with a brilliant Ethan Grayson drop goal.
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Victory was Newcastle’s first since March 2023 and consultant rugby director Diamond was full of praise for his players. “I’m delighted, the monkey’s off the club’s back of the longest run of losses,” he said. “We are trying to build something. It’s taking time, but the job in hand is to put on performances like that at home.
“Away from home, sometimes we will struggle with the squad we have got, but at home that is what I expect. I saw it a little bit against Bristol, didn’t see it against Leicester, but we have simplified everything and tonight was the first time we have stuck to the plan.”
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Exeter took the lead just four minutes in through Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, but Newcastle responded when van der Walt managed to reach over the line to ground the ball. Although two Josh Hodge penalties sent the Chiefs back in front, Blamire scored twice either side of the break and Grayson’s drop goal gave the home side some breathing space.
Hodge crossed with two minutes to spare, but Newcastle held on to triumph in a win Diamond described as “crucial”. He said: “We made a defensive error in the first five minutes where we came out of line, the old Newcastle, and we sorted that out.
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“Then we looked pretty comfortable, I thought. We struggled under the weather conditions, the wind, we couldn’t receive the high ball and that is what kept Exeter in the game in the first half. That didn’t get any better throughout the game.
“So we know we have got things to work on, our lineout in the first half didn’t operate as swiftly as we would like it, so we were pleased to go in just in front. (I’m) delighted, it was two sides who have been struggling and it was an arm wrestle. What we had to do was stay in it and a win tonight was crucial to us to stay with somebody in the league.”
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Defeat was Exeter’s fifth of the season, but they remain one spot above Newcastle, having accumulated five bonus points. Although they started well, the Chiefs struggled to build phases during the match and director of rugby Rob Baxter admits the team’s belief has taken a hit.
He said: “It’s tough to talk about some of the things around penalties we gave away, how poor we were clearing rucks, how easily we lost the ball, they are pretty difficult. I imagine some of those things are probably psychological as to where the team are at the minute and that little bit of belief.
“When you are strong and positive and you know everything seems to be working, it does kind of work. You are not in two minds, you’re just carrying nice and strong, you almost don’t force too much into things and things flow for you.
“I thought we were getting on that in the start of the half, but we got knocked off our stride and fair play to Newcastle, they got under our skin and stayed there.”
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