The Newcastle director of rugby, Dean Richards, refused to get carried away with his side’s 26-25 win against the three‑times winners Toulon at Stade Fleix Mayol as they returned to the Champions Cup with a bang.
It was Newcastle’s first time in the top tier of European club rugby for 13 years and it was a brutal return to the competition as they fell behind in 21 seconds.
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Romain Taofifenua scored the try as the hosts raced into a 10-0 lead after seven minutes but the Falcons showed character to come back and lead 16-10 at the break.
Toulon lost three players to the sin‑bin to Newcastle’s one but still battled back to lead 25-23 in the second half. In the end it was a penalty from in front of the posts from Joel Hodgson that won the game – only the second time this season the Falcons have tasted victory.
“I say every time that it’s not where you are at the start of a competition; it’s where you are at the end that counts,” Richards said. “Today was a notable victory, which is right up there with any other, but it’s only one victory and we have to now go out and back it up against Montpellier on Sunday.
“We’ve already parked it, the players have moved on to the next game and we know Montpellier will be a massive test. They’re a little bit like Toulon and it will be a hard game, and after today they’ll certainly not take us lightly.”
It was Newcastle’s first win on French soil in the tournament at the fourth attempt and was only Toulon’s second home defeat at Stade Felix Mayol in Europe, with their previous defeat against Saracens two years ago.
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“It was a hell of a game. The boys threw everything at it and it was fantastic that we came through and got the win that we deserved in the end,” Richards said. “Our defence was strong, we played in the right areas and the tactics from the boys were outstanding.
“We got it right, and the players should take a huge amount of credit. There were a lot of lads out there who’ve never played Champions Cup rugby, and they didn’t look out of place at all. Toulon were probably a bit disjointed at times and didn’t show a lot of patience, but we didn’t allow them to string together anything more than five or six phases at a time. They were a dangerous team and we had to be on our mettle, which thankfully we were.
“We looked at what the crowd was going to offer on the day, we prepared for that side of it with videos and audio, and the boys were prepared for it.
“None of the boys froze. They were all magnificent and the thing now is to make sure it isn’t a one-off.”