It has never been tighter at the bottom of the Premiership. Newcastle go into Sunday’s home fixture against Gloucester at the foot of the table despite winning their last two matches and are one of four former champions in the wrong half of the table.
The Falcons made the play-offs last season after finishing fourth, their highest position since winning the title in 1998. The congestion in the table below the top two is such that they are only nine points off a play-off spot, having slipped slightly rather than fallen over the edge.
“The Premiership is so competitive,” says the Newcastle full-back Simon Hammersley, who has started every league match this season. “We are targeting our next three games [at home to Gloucester and Harlequins, with a trip to Bristol in between] because a good run would get us into the top half.
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“While no one wants to be bottom, we are not concerned about our position because the league is so congested, but in a few rounds teams will start to look over their shoulders and worry. Apart from Exeter and Saracens, everyone is beating everyone else and the main difference from last season is that we are not taking as many opportunities.”
The 25-year-old Hammersley joined Newcastle in 2013 when he was at Durham University. Brought up in Yorkshire, he played for Hull Ionians but had never considered a career in the sport because the academy system had passed him by.
“Durham had a very good rugby team and Newcastle noticed me,” says Hammersley, who studied economics and had been planning a banking career in the City. “I had a part-time contract in my final year and I then went full-time. I guess it was a lucky way into the professional game but I am not someone who thinks about rugby 24/7. I am doing a masters degree in finance to keep my mind ticking over.
“At the start of your professional career it is awesome: you are not in a nine‑to‑five job, you are being paid to do something you enjoy and you have nothing to lose. Then you start to think about what you will do after rugby and it is good that there is now a real emphasis on players doing extracurricular stuff. I want to play for as long as I can but, while a number of players then go into coaching, I will look to do something else.”
When Hammersley joined Newcastle they had just been promoted to the Premiership after a year in the Championship. They finished one off the bottom in the next three seasons before climbing to eighth and then fourth. “The club is totally different now,” he says. “The quality of players coming from the school system is incredible and we have real strength in depth.
“Without wanting to put extra pressure on us, it is vital that the north-east retains a presence in the Premiership. With no team from Yorkshire in the top flight, it would mean a huge rugby area was not represented. We need teams from all over the country and there is an audience for rugby here, as we showed last season when playing at St James’ Park, which we are doing again in the new year before the European Champions Cup final there. It is down to us.”
Gloucester started the round in third but they have won only two more matches than Newcastle. Their position is based on their home form, with only one victory achieved on the road, and they have lost three of their last four Premiership matches against the Falcons.
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“They are a strong side with excellent backs and a big bruising pack,” Hammersley says. “They have lived up to the hype but we will go into the game with confidence because, although we lost to Edinburgh last weekend, we played some of our best attacking rugby of the season. We know we can create opportunities and have to start taking them in the way we did last season.
“We are trying to catch up after a poor start when we lost to Exeter and Wasps at home in matches we could have won and were then sloppy at Sale and Harlequins. What makes this season exciting for spectators, if less so for players, is that while the team that comes up usually finds it difficult, Bristol’s recruitment and coaching have made them a side good enough to beat Leicester by 30 points. A decent team is going to go down.”
Hammersley believes Newcastle are looking up and can dare to dream. “You only have to look at what Exeter have achieved,” he said. “They did not sign big stars when they got promoted but relied on their academy and good coaching. We have guys coming through the system and an array of top coaches. There is a great ethos here and we all enjoy each other’s company. Everything is in place and I am sure the stars will align.”