Saturday 11 October 2014 18:53, UK
London Welsh boss Justin Burnell has refused to accept that his side are doomed to relegation after their demoralising 23-3 home defeat to fellow strugglers Newcastle.
Adam Powell, Mark Wilson and Ruki Tipuna all ran in tries for Newcastle, with Juan Pablo Socino and Rory Clegg adding extras with the boot, as they won the battle of the Aviva Premiership's bottom two at the Kassam Stadium.
Olly Barkley added a solitary penalty for the Exiles in response and the table already looks grim for his side, who have now lost six out of six, conceded 272 points and picked up just a single losing bonus point, but Burnell is remaining positive.
I don't think the league was decided today, there are still 16 games to go and we've got spirit.
"I don't think the league was decided today, there are still 16 games to go and we've got spirit," he said.
"Every loss is disappointing but this was a vast improvement from us after last week's performance at the Harlequins.''
Welsh now find themselves eight points adrift of Newcastle and it will take a significant turnaround for them to avoid the drop even at this early stage.
The fact that they only got on the scoreboard via a penalty from Barkley was particularly disappointing for Burnell after they had enjoyed a large amount of possession and territory.
"We played for 80 minutes this week but we didn't capitalise on our possession and it's enormously frustrating how easily we switch off. It's a massive learning curve for us and it is crucial for us to look at the processes to enable us to turn pressure into points,'' Burnell added.
For Newcastle, it was their second Premiership win in a row after a disastrous run of losses. The follow-up win pleased their director of rugby, Dean Richards.
He said: "Last week's win against Exeter was the most important one as that result been coming for some time. We have been playing with ambition but we needed to win a game.
"I'm delighted for the boys today as we delivered. However we lacked a bit of accuracy at times in the first half and dropped away a bit more in the second half but our defence was excellent which is good as it's normally the weakest part of his game.''
Newcastle were 23-3 ahead with more than a quarter of the match still remaining and should have secured a valuable bonus point but a raft of substitutions saw them lose their continuity.
"Last week the same substitutions made a massive impact on the game but today it didn't. Number eight Ally Hogg tweaked a hamstring so he had to be replaced but the others were tactical,'' said Richards.
Newcastle skipper, Will Welch agreed with Richards that his side were not at their best in the final quarter.
"We tired and we don't make things easy for ourselves at times. We should really have picked up a bonus point.''
