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| Fletcher Walking In A Winter Wonderland |
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| Captain Russell Winter (right) and Joe McDonnell |
| 12 January 2008, 2:43 am |
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| Newcastle director of rugby John Fletcher hailed captain Russell Winter on Friday, as he led the Falcons to a gutsy 19-12 European Challenge Cup victory at CA Brive Correze. |
The South African No.8 took the armband for the match, with Fletcher stating afterwards: “Russell was immense on the pitch tonight, and I thought he was equally as important off the field before this game.
“He gave an unbelievable speech to the players in the hotel the day before the match, in fairness most of them were in tears when they left the room, and he has been a massive inspiration this whole week for us. What a character.”
Having seen his side defy the conditions, Fletcher added: “Everyone is aware that when it's a hard track in the sunshine and especially at Kingston Park, then we really fancy ourselves, but away from home, in France, in the rain and mud with a big home crowd and a referee who isn't blowing for anything at the breakdown, then you would think the odds would be stacked against us.
“Credit must go to the players, especially the forwards after the work they have done with Peter Walton and Ian Peel, and we have now shown that we can win in lots of ways and in lots of different situations.
“Those sorts of conditions, with the poor weather and a very soft pitch, are always a bit of a lottery, but I thought over the 80 minutes we were the better team and were good for the victory.
“We were organised in defence, kept our discipline and we knew that at some point there was always going to be an attacking opportunity for us. We were fortunate enough that when it came, we were able to take it.”
Having suffered frustration at the same venue just a year earlier, Fletcher said: “It was slightly over 12 months ago that I was sat here in the same changing room trying to explain why we had just been demolished seven tries to two by the same team that we have beaten tonight, so overall I'm very pleased.
“I found it very tough to work out what the referee was trying to do at the breakdown with his interpretation, to be honest, but the key point in my opinion was that the team who played the most rugby won in the end.
“We had more territory, we made slightly fewer mistakes than them in very difficult conditions, but as I say the referee's idea of what was going on at the tackle area was somewhat at odds with what our own perception was for pretty much most of the match, which made things very difficult.
“We're now top of the pool with the chance to secure a home quarter-final, which all bodes well and we'll take it from here.
“Home advantage in the knock-out stages would be big for us, should we secure it, but to be honest on our day we would fancy ourselves againt anyone.”
Having taken it down to the wire with a late video ref decision which could have potentially drawn the game, Fletcher joked: “We're crowd pleasers, what can I say!
“Kevin Keegan is a huge hero of mine, I've always been inspired by his methods and the thinking is that if they score 20 points, we will score 21!
“Joking aside, closing matches out is a part of the game we have been working very hard at, and I thought we made very good decsions in the last five to ten minutes.
“Okay, we held them up over the line with the very last play, but the character we showed at the end is a sign of just where this team is at the moment.
“They are such a fantastic bunch of players, they give you everything, and without wishing to single anybody out I just have to again make a special mention for our captain tonight, Russell Winter, as I did earlier, because he was simply sensational.”
Turning to the broader picture, he added: “I've said all along that I fancy us to win this competition, but then again I'm naïve enough to think that we'll win every game we play in a season!
“I never think we'll lose a game, which has obviously proven to be wrong at times, but what we are doing at the moment is taking the challenges week by week and throwing the kitchen sink at every single one. I don't think that's such a bad idea.” |
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