Post by Jamie Crawford on Aug 22, 2017 8:45:43 GMT
Newcastle Falcons home pre-season preview: Castle Park - The Return
Sat 26th Aug, 2017 - 02:30pm
A fortnight before this game up at Kingston Park the Falcons ran away with a 31-8 win. The Knights won’t want to concede five tries again this season but at least Will Burden made sure that we crossed their whitewash at least once and so didn’t record 0 tries! Will also touched down where it matters at Thornensians. Can he make it three games consecutively?
Following immediately on from the Knights, Nottingham played the Falcons and the score was Falcons 49-19 Nottingham or the try-count was 7-3. Although Nottingham played a markedly different team than the Knights played (perhaps completely different depending on substitutions used), Nottingham scored and conceded two more tries than the Knights, although they did concede 18 more points in total. More importantly our point’s difference was 23, Nottingham’s was 30, so you might argue that we fared better?
Hopefully lessons have been learned for this re-match and for the season ahead. The initial score against the Raiders and the first score against the Falcons should be no surprise; Guernsey Raiders are three divisions below and Newcastle Falcons one division above the Knights. Defensive lessons will have been learned against the very fit and high-scoring Students last week. Normally you'd expect the young, fit students to be more dominant in the closing stages as legs tire and breathing becomes laboured. Instead the result provided a statement of intent of the Knights' fitness and the effort they have all put in under Dougie's fitness regime.
The game will mark the inaugural play on the new turf at Castle Park. "Eclipse Stabilised Natural Turf pitch (commonly known as a "lay and play" surface) is a hybrid turf that combines natural (grass) and synthetic fibres tufted into an open-weave backing, top dressed with specified sand. The reinforcement of the artificial grass guarantees stability and an even playing surface immediately after installation. It promises outstanding Performance & Durability."(http://www.countyturf.co.uk/eclipse-hybrid-turf)
The pitch also has an extensive drainage system as well as pop-up sprinklers.
The Keepmoat Stadium uses a similar reinforced grass pitch, the Desso GrassMaster hybrid natural grass and that pitch receives much use; Doncaster Rovers, Doncaster Belles and Doncaster Lakers (the Dons) rugby league team.
The Aviva Stadium, Ireland and a place called Twickenham Stadium where they play rugby (!) both use DessoGrassMaster hybrid grass.
Both Eclipse and Decco differ from Ealing Trailfinders’ Rhino-Turf which is a fully synthetic turf (3G) made to look like grass.
You might wonder why Castle Park opted for Eclipse rather than Desso, I’m not privy to the decision making but I would guess that Eclipse doesn’t take as long before it can be used plus I’ve read reports that the Desso GrassMaster failed to grow evenly or to take root properly and they used Eclipse which solved the problem admirably.
Let's begin our (pre)season and mark our new pitch with a win. Or at least put in a very solid performance against a more experienced team; a performance to be proud of.
COYK
DONNY, DONNY, DONNY…
Sat 26th Aug, 2017 - 02:30pm
A fortnight before this game up at Kingston Park the Falcons ran away with a 31-8 win. The Knights won’t want to concede five tries again this season but at least Will Burden made sure that we crossed their whitewash at least once and so didn’t record 0 tries! Will also touched down where it matters at Thornensians. Can he make it three games consecutively?
Following immediately on from the Knights, Nottingham played the Falcons and the score was Falcons 49-19 Nottingham or the try-count was 7-3. Although Nottingham played a markedly different team than the Knights played (perhaps completely different depending on substitutions used), Nottingham scored and conceded two more tries than the Knights, although they did concede 18 more points in total. More importantly our point’s difference was 23, Nottingham’s was 30, so you might argue that we fared better?
Hopefully lessons have been learned for this re-match and for the season ahead. The initial score against the Raiders and the first score against the Falcons should be no surprise; Guernsey Raiders are three divisions below and Newcastle Falcons one division above the Knights. Defensive lessons will have been learned against the very fit and high-scoring Students last week. Normally you'd expect the young, fit students to be more dominant in the closing stages as legs tire and breathing becomes laboured. Instead the result provided a statement of intent of the Knights' fitness and the effort they have all put in under Dougie's fitness regime.
The game will mark the inaugural play on the new turf at Castle Park. "Eclipse Stabilised Natural Turf pitch (commonly known as a "lay and play" surface) is a hybrid turf that combines natural (grass) and synthetic fibres tufted into an open-weave backing, top dressed with specified sand. The reinforcement of the artificial grass guarantees stability and an even playing surface immediately after installation. It promises outstanding Performance & Durability."(http://www.countyturf.co.uk/eclipse-hybrid-turf)
The pitch also has an extensive drainage system as well as pop-up sprinklers.
The Keepmoat Stadium uses a similar reinforced grass pitch, the Desso GrassMaster hybrid natural grass and that pitch receives much use; Doncaster Rovers, Doncaster Belles and Doncaster Lakers (the Dons) rugby league team.
The Aviva Stadium, Ireland and a place called Twickenham Stadium where they play rugby (!) both use DessoGrassMaster hybrid grass.
Both Eclipse and Decco differ from Ealing Trailfinders’ Rhino-Turf which is a fully synthetic turf (3G) made to look like grass.
You might wonder why Castle Park opted for Eclipse rather than Desso, I’m not privy to the decision making but I would guess that Eclipse doesn’t take as long before it can be used plus I’ve read reports that the Desso GrassMaster failed to grow evenly or to take root properly and they used Eclipse which solved the problem admirably.
Let's begin our (pre)season and mark our new pitch with a win. Or at least put in a very solid performance against a more experienced team; a performance to be proud of.
COYK
DONNY, DONNY, DONNY…
