MEDIA DESCENDS ON KINGSTON PARK
Sky Sports, BBC Look North, ITV Tyne Tees, BBC Radio Newcastle and The Journal all put their questions to Messrs Richards and co at the pre-match press conference.
The Falcons have maximum points from their opening two league games thanks to bonus-point wins at Bristol and London Scottish.
And Richards insists the Falcons faithful are quite right to have high expectations of their side this campaign.
“I would hope that there is expectancy from the fans that we go out there and win because I don’t want anything else but a win,” Richards told the assembled media.
“The players have to understand that the fans expect a good win tomorrow night, and they know that. We want to make Kingston Park a place where teams who come here find it difficult to visit, and historically it is a place whereby it has been difficult for visiting teams.
“We just have to get back to making it a fortress of our own and the players want that to happen as well,” he added.
With the northeasterners already in the groove this term with 11 tries to their name, Richards wants his troops to showcase their attacking prowess consistently.
He said: “I would like to see us play with ball in hand and I am not interested in a kicking game which is not going to draw the crowds in.
“I like the boys to win but I also think there is a way of winning which doesn’t involve kicking the ball. I think that the style of rugby that we want to play is important and the players have to buy into the style of rugby that we want to play.
“At the moment we have a style of rugby that the players have acknowledged is working and we are looking forward to a tough test against Doncaster tomorrow.”
Jimmy Gopperth gave his take on the opening rounds of the RFU Championship, saying: “In keeping with the Championship it is going to be pretty ruthless out there on Friday night, and we have to be ruthless ourselves and it is important that we stick to our task.
“I suppose the Championship has been a little bit of a culture shock, particularly last week at London Scottish when the ground was pretty small and there was little over a 1,000 people there.
“You can’t worry about those things and we have a job to do – we know that if we don’t perform we won’t be playing.
> “Every week we have to put our best foot forward and make sure we
> perform as a team.”
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