Senior coach Alan Dickens was pleased with the effort of his Newcastle Falcons players following Saturday’s 42-18 win at Doncaster Knights.

The Castle Park triumph saw the Falcons maintain their perfect start to the Premiership Rugby Cup with four wins from four, and Dickens was upbeat going into the final two group games.

“We talked pre-match about Doncaster wanting to take a Premiership scalp, and about us doing a professional job,” he said.

“We knew it would be a good test because Doncaster are a capable side, and they put us under a lot of pressure at times.

“One of the most pleasing things about the first half is I thought we were pretty clinical, and we scored three tries from four or five visits to their 22. That gave us a little bit of breathing space going into the second half, and I was pleased on the whole.”

Dickens added: “Doncaster are a side who want to play rugby, and credit to them because they came back into it.

“That was disappointing on the one hand, but I was pleased with how we responded in scoring pretty quickly afterwards. We had the odd daft penalty or silly offside which invited a bit of pressure, but those things are easy fixes and we also produced some good stuff.

“We’d spoken about getting back into the winning mentality and taking five points away with us, which is what we’ve done.

“We want to keep that up now, and Caldy next Sunday is another opportunity going into Sale Sharks away the following week. We’ll face a couple of different problems over those two games, but we just want to keep winning and keep progressing in this competition.

“A number of lads put their hand up and I was pleased with how they went, and it’s great to have that competition within the squad. The lads all want to play rugby, their attitude is spot-on and with the work we’re putting in we’re determined to finish the season strongly.”