Dave Walder has warned relegation rivals of bottom club Newcastle that he fully expects Falcons to complete the great escape.
With five games to play the team from Toon props up the Premiership and still has to face three of the top-five, starting at champions Saracens tomorrow.
But head coach Walder says: “I definitely believe Newcastle are going to stay up. It’s going to be tough, but I absolutely, 100 per cent believe we’ll do it.”
A month ago such chat might have brought a visit from the men in white coats. Falcons were nine points adrift with just three league wins all season.
But out of nowhere their campaign has caught fire. Successive victories over Worcester, Wasps and Sale have cut the gap to three points.
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All of a sudden either Worcester or Leicester can go bottom if results this weekend go against them. Bristol and Wasps are in real trouble too.
“Confidence in sport is everything,” said Walder, whose side’s 12-point March haul came as Leicester and Wasps went into freefall.
“We were like the striker who needed one to go in off his backside to get back in the goals. We needed to find a win any which way.
“Fortunately for us it came in our biggest game of the season so far, against Worcester. That gave us the belief to then win at Wasps which, in turn, convinced the lads they could beat Sale.
“The table doesn’t lie, across the season we haven’t been good enough,” the former England fly-half added. “I’ve got my gameplan wrong a couple of times. The bounce of the ball hasn’t gone our way, we’ve had a couple of injuries.
“Last year we rode the highs of a top-four finish, this year has been slightly more of a grind. Staying up would be a hell of an achievement from where we were.
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“But we’ve got a bit of momentum now, we’ve given ourselves a chance if we fight and scrap for everything in our remaining matches.”
REMAINING MATCHES
Wasps (37 points): Worcester (h), Exeter (a), Saracens (h), Bath (a), Harlequins (h)
Bristol (36): Bath (a), Saracens (h), Leicester (a), Sale (h), Newcastle (a)
Leicester (34): Exeter (h), Newcastle (a), Bristol (h), Harlequins (a), Bath (h)
Worcester (32): Wasps (a), Sale (h), Gloucester (h), Northampton (a), Saracens (h)
Newcastle (29): Saracens (a), Leicester (h), Northampton (h), Gloucester (a), Bristol (h)
