UK Edition
The miracle of Newcastle: How no-hopers became contenders playing the 'Keegan' way
The chill winds that habitually cut to the bone at Newcastle’s Kingston Park may never ease but at least the shivering fans have been warmed to the cockles by the brand of rugby being played out on the field, a balmy sporting front that may even see the Falcons go top of the table tomorrow night.
There are various caveats to that momentous possibility – be it Saracens losing at Worcester or Newcastle slipping up against London Irish – but the very fact that such permutations are in the north-eastern air is heartening. And helping direct operations is a man weaned on the all-out attacking instincts of one-time Messiah of the Geordie nation, Kevin Keegan, a philosophy that chimes with that of Falcons’ new head coach, Dave Walder, born and bred in the area and a former Magpies’ season ticket-holder.
“We like to be entertained up here, to win too, and if we can do both, then so much the better,” said former England, Falcons and Wasps’ fly-half, Walder, promoted into the role this season after three seasons as backs coach. “It’s the Keegan way, to wear hearts on sleeves and to express yourself.”
Friday’s fixture against the Exiles would have once been billed as an early-season relegation indicator, a bottom-of-the-table scuffle for precious points in the inevitable eight-month battle for survival. Newcastle have lived in the nether regions for the last ten years.
Champions at the outset of professionalism in the mid-nineties, invigorating pioneers in those madcap early years and bankrolled by the money of Sir John Hall, those initial dreams of a sporting empire being built in the north-east turned to dust. Newcastle have been on their uppers for too long, 11th four times in a decade, only just coming through albeit they were relegated in 2012. But the good business practice of owner, Semore Kurdi, who took over the listing enterprise six years ago, and the shrewd, bit-by-bit management of Dean Richards, has seen a slow upturn on and off the field.
The methodology of both men has been to lay foundations. Now for the furnishings, the layering on, the varnish, the eye-catching exterior. There has been a discernible shift to a more expansive approach, mirrored in Walder’s elevation as well as in the signings of high-quality backs such as former France centre, Maxime Mermoz, ex-England fly-half, Toby Flood and Pro12 double-winning Canadian centre/wing, DTH van der Merwe, who scored on his debut last weekend in that switchback, and highly significant, 33-32 win over Bath at the Rec.
“We are well aware that we have done nothing yet bar having had a decent start with two away wins,” said Walder. “We know we can get better. Both Maxime and Toby have been injured while DTH has only just had his first game. But this is the way we want to go, to attack. It would be daft to imagine you can do that all the time and all the other principles apply first and foremost – win good ball, set-piece solid, defend hard. But our recruitment shows the direction in which we want to travel.
"The seeds were sown last year and now we’re trying to reap the benefit. You just wouldn’t be able to recruit the players we have been able to do if all you were going to offer them is a kick-and-chase game. The artificial pitch helps. The lads love it. The game is quicker and you know what you are going to get. When I played, the pitch was a bog, not even a leveller for us as the home side as it was unplayable.”
It may be romantic guff that makes us wish Newcastle well, the outpost in the northern reaches scrapping against the odds to make it happen for the local community but all power to those sort of instincts. The north-east does play home to many proud, long-standing amateur clubs and the Falcons are very much part of that scene with ties to 60 junior clubs. But it has been a drawn-out tussle to endure. That fighting spirit is deeply-embedded at the club as was evidenced in the manner in which they came off the ropes against Bath. Having raced to a 19-0 lead, Bath then scored 32 unanswered points. Most teams would have folded at that point, demoralised by such an about-turn. The Falcons didn’t and they won it at the death, their first victory at Bath in eight years.
“I’m a new boy but I could see the desire to fight,” said van der Merwe, a prolific try-scorer for Pro 12 champions, Glasgow Warriors and Scarlets. “That’s how it is been with me with Canada, the underdog trying their best.”
Van der Merwe, 31, actually took himself off to Texas three years ago to train as a firefighter with his post-rugby life in mind. There was a time when those skills would have been to the fore at Newcastle with their succession of relegation scrapes while his late teen upbringing in Saskatchewan to where the South African family moved when van der Merwe was 17, is the perfect climactic preparation for life in the north-east.
The motley crew go again against London Irish, with everyone mindful that this is no more than a beginning.
“It is obvious that we have achieved nothing yet,” said Walder. “It’s a good start, no more than that. But, equally, it does show what we are capable of. There is more to come.”