This was another desperate afternoon for Newcastle who have now lost all eight of their Premiership matches this season and already find themselves cut adrift at the foot of the table. Leicester scored seven tries – three of them for the flanker Tommy Reffell – and continue their upward trajectory that began with the return of their internationals but for the Falcons, it is shaping up to be a bleak winter.
Newcastle may not want for endeavour, nor talented youngsters, but there is a desperate absence of senior quality in their ranks and they have not won in the league since March. Indeed, they have won only twice in 2023 and the head coach, Alex Codling, has called on the club’s hierarchy to “make decisions” about their longer-term strategy. The Falcons have cut their cloth accordingly in a competition plagued by financial troubles but their decision to spend considerably less than the salary cap permits was horribly exposed here against a side packed full of internationals.
