Director of rugby Steve Diamond accepted his Newcastle Falcons side were comprehensively beaten after taking a 61-0 loss at Gallagher Premiership champions Northampton Saints on Saturday.

Speaking after the East Midlands defeat, the Falcons boss said: “We were lucky to get nil, if we’re honest.

“We were beaten in every area by a good side, and it sometimes happens.

“We could sit here and make excuses about illness in the camp and horrendously long bus journeys, but I’m not going to do that.

“Today just shows the difference between the haves and the have-nots. Our squad isn’t able to cope week on week when we’re playing the big sides like Bath last week and Northampton today, and I’m not criticising my players because they’re giving everything they’ve got.

“We competed well last week against Bath and still lost, and we didn’t compete today, if we’re honest about it.

“The lads try, I can’t fault them, but we need some better quality players adding to our squad. We need a larger group to compete and we haven’t got it at the moment, but that’s been the case all year.”

Diamond added: “We will pick things up, most likely at home, and it’s always going to be difficult for us on the road.

“You could see the fatigue in the lads today, and it’s not cos we’ve over-trained them. They’ve hardly trained all week, to be fair, but we’re asking the same lads to back up week on week, we’re asking props and locks to play near 80 minutes as well, and it’s hard.

“All I said to the lads after the game is that we need to keep the psychology positive, look after the mental side and fire into Harlequins up at our place on Friday.

“They’re a great set of lads, we look after their training load and they give me everything they’ve got. I think everybody knows we need a bit more strength, and the potential investors we’re talking to understand the situation.

“I’m working at the moment on retaining the players I want to retain, based on the same budget as this season, which is about 50% of most of the other clubs, and then when we find the light at the end of the tunnel we’ll spend a bit more.

“It will be done on a very similar basis to which I did at Sale Sharks, where we spent not a lot for a long time, then got some investment and added some more quality over three to four years, and that’s how you become highly competitive.

“I’m not happy about today, but at the same time I’m not distressed, and neither are the players. Sometimes you just get beaten by a better side, and Northampton were quicker in thought and deed today.

“They won the competition last year and they’ve got the capacity to be outstanding, which is what they showed this afternoon.”