Mark Wilson remembers the pain he felt when Newcastle were last relegated from the Premiership in 2012 and he will use it as inspiration when the Falcons meet London Irish at Kingston Park on Sunday in a match that will go a long way to deciding who goes down this season.
Defeat would almost certainly condemn Irish to the drop, leaving them at least six points behind Newcastle with two matches – at home to Harlequins and away to Wasps – to go. They would probably need to win both and hope Newcastle tripped up against Saracens and Sale.
“The game is effectively a cup final,” says the back-row, who was born in Kendal on the other side of the Pennines and has been with Newcastle since 2004 when he was 14. “We have lost our last six matches and London Irish have not won away in the league this season but recent records count for nothing on an occasion like this. It is not about what has happened before but getting the result.
“It is being built up as a big game and rightly so with what is at stake. Victory would give us breathing space and there is a lot riding on the outcome but it is important we stick to the task and focus on what we need to do. It is in these big matches that you have to deliver and it is why we are paid for what we do. You will feel more nervous but you have to focus on what you have practised during the week. Playing at home in front of our passionate fans will be an advantage and we have to make it count.”
In February Newcastle looked to have scrambled out of the relegation quagmire after beating Leicester and Northampton at home in consecutive weeks. They were on a run of four straight victories at Kingston Park but their six matches since then have ended in defeat with Worcester among their conquerors.
“We are really frustrated to be in this position because we have shown we can live with the top sides in what is an incredibly competitive league,” Wilson says. “When we beat Leicester and Northampton I thought we would kick on but we failed to and that is why we are where we are now, needing to beat London Irish. We have yet to win away but at Sale, Wasps and Bath, I thought we were the better side but we did not come away with the victory.
“We have played well but we have not been clinical enough. We believe we can win every game, home and away, but we need to find a ruthless edge that will allow us to come out of tight encounters on the right side. The margins are fine in the Premiership and we have to get the simple things right on Sunday, playing for the full 80 minutes.”
Newcastle won promotion immediately after they were relegated in 2012 having initially been reprieved because London Welsh failed to meet the entry criteria for the top flight, a decision that was overturned on appeal. Wilson says he has not been thinking about the drop and its potential implications for the club.
“That is not being arrogant,” he says. “My focus has been on ensuring we stay up. I well remember four years ago and I never again want to experience the feeling I had when I knew we were going down. I have been at this club since I was 14 and it means a huge amount to me. It belongs in the Premiership and it has ambition, as the signing of Vereniki Goneva [the Fiji and Leicester wing] for next season shows.
“I am not looking down because we have the quality to climb up the Premiership ladder. The setup here is strong and it is down to the players to deliver. I do not want to experience playing in the Championship again and that means winning on Sunday. Irish are in the same position as us and, although nothing will be settled this weekend for certain, it is a game where the result is everything.”
