Newcastle not giving relegation a thought

NEWCASTLE OWNER Dave Thompson is confident the Falcons will avoid relegation from the English Premiership this season even though they are only three points above the bottom club, Bristol, and have to visit the Memorial Stadium next month.

Newcastle were hammered by 40 points at London Irish last weekend - they have not won an away league match since December 2007 - and their last Premiership success at home this season was in September, but Thompson said the future of the club's director of rugby, Steve Bates, was not an issue.

"Four wins will be enough to stay up this season and that is the least we expect," said Thompson. "We are looking for more than that, and I have not given relegation a huge amount of consideration because I know we are going to force ourselves out of that picture.

"There were elements of the defeat at London Irish that really hurt everyone, and we saw things that had not been evident in recent performances. So that was distressing for all concerned. But Steve, the rest of the coaches, and the players will work hard and get that right ahead of the game against Gloucester this weekend.

"Steve is the right man for this job, he has the right experience levels and he has been in similar roles in different scenarios, so he is certainly the calibre of director of rugby that we want long-term.

"We have taken a different approach since changing the management last March and that change is taking time to effect itself."

Bath, one place behind Gloucester in the table in third, face Wasps at the Recreation Ground on Saturday, and, while the pitch has been covered all week, heating equipment was ordered yesterday with the cold snap expected to last.

"We will do everything we can to make sure the game goes ahead," said Bath head coach Steve Meehan. "It is important to play the fixture this weekend. Heaters are on the way and we are hoping the pitch will be okay."

Meehan is considering whether to bring in a secondrow under the salary-cap rules to cover for Danny Grewcock and Peter Short. Grewcock is out for two months with a foot problem, while Short damaged a thumb in last Sunday's defeat at Leicester and is likely to be out for three weeks.

Former Wales coach Scott Johnson is in line to take over at the Ospreys.