Good afternoon and welcome to all supporters, members and officials to our highly anticipated first match of the Greene King IPA Championship against Newcastle Falcons. A particular welcome from me to Dean Richards against whom I played on a good few occasions way back when.
The last three weeks have seen us go three from three unbeaten in the Cup and a bonus point win last week against Yorkshire Carnegie cements our spot at the top of Pool 3. This week, however, our attention turns to the league and we welcome Newcastle Falcons, who join us from the Premiership.
Newcastle arrive here today also have had three convincing wins in the Cup and will be looking to continue their winning streak, as will we.
The last time we played Falcons was back in 2012 when both league games were tight encounters. The first fixture was here at the RAG, also early on in the season. It was a game when both attacks were on top and ended in the Falcons claiming a 49-32 win. When we travelled away to play them during the Christmas period in a televised game, the defences were on top. The scoreboard then was even closer with another win for the northern based side 12-9.
Today’s fixture is a great opportunity for Scottish to test their fitness and form against one of the best teams in the league. Time will tell whether Falcons are the strongest team in the league or not but they can be assured we’ll give today’s game our very best shot. Last week we showed both strength upfront and sharp finishing in the outsides. We’ll need more of the same today to prevail.