Preview: Sale Sharks tackle Falcons at Kingston Park

An interesting tussle initiates the Premiership’s second round as unexpected winners from Round 1, Newcastle, take on Sale Sharks at Kingston Park in the former’s first home game of the competition.

Sale also kicked off their campaign in winning style with a 10-point victory over Northampton Saints at the AJ Bell. Steve Diamond’s men put on a decent show, outscoring Saints by four tries to two, thus bagging five points to put them tie-first at the top of the table with Exeter and Leicester.

New kids on the block, Newcastle, pulled the proverbial rabbit out of the hat in Round 1 by seeing off Bath 19-12 at The Rec. Bath started well, posting their first try – a well-worked move finished off by Joe Cokanasiga – after nine minutes, but Newcastle showed some grit to bounce back – some quick thinking on the touchline seeing hard-running number 8 Gary Graham crash over for the Falcons’ first try of the 2020-21 campaign. Smelling blood, Newcastle took the game to Bath and dotted down – again through Graham – just before half-time to give themselves a 5-point lead. Bath drew level just after the break but it was Falcons who had the final say with Ben Stevenson diving over in the corner.

With the surprise that Falcons have cultivated after Round 1, they can rest assured that Sale would have taken notice of proceedings and will take the field with wary and ready minds.

Falcons were impressive with the physicality they exhibited against Bath, however, they face a somewhat different challenge this week against a big and robust pack of Sale forwards which boasts six burly South Africans.

If the Falcons manage to match Sale up front, we should have another intriguing game on our hands. After their dramatic entrance back into the Premiership, their progress this weekend will be watched with keen interest from all quarters.