Gold off to a winning start

Gary Gold celebrated his first game in charge of Newcastle Falcons with a 37-7 victory over Sale Sharks in the LV=Cup.

The win moves Newcastle on to 10 points in their pool, four points behind the Scarlets who are red-hot favourites to progress through to the knockout stages.

But the experienced coach insists his side must continue to improve and keep their feet firmly on the ground.

Gold told Falcons TV: “The guys came out and put their bodies on the line and I am very proud of how they fronted up on the day against a Sale team who came out to play.

“They put us under pressure early in the game but we fought-back well with the superb commitment shown by the guys.

“We still have a long way to go and we should not get ahead of ourselves. We set ourselves the goal to improve in a couple of areas across the board and there were some significant improvements in certain areas of our game.

“But we have a long way to go and we have not achieved anything yet.”

The new Falcons chief is hoping his unit can maintain their focus and keep improving as the Aviva Premiership looms large.

“I was pleased with the commitment shown by the guys and they never stopped fighting – their commitment in the tackle was excellent,” said Gold.

“I have a hungry bunch of guys here who want to make a difference,” he added.