Rugby
Falcons for Flood
12 September 2007
Toby Flood insists it will be solely Newcastle on his mind this weekend, as he lines up for the Falcons against Sale Sharks in Sunday’s Guinness Premiership opener at Kingston Park (kick-off 3pm).
The 22-year-old has been focusing exclusively on preparing for club duty despite events in France, which had led to speculation over a possible World Cup call-up.
“I’ve been training with the Falcons for the past month or so after being released from the England squad, and Sunday’s game against Sale is where all my attention is,” said the man who will make his 54th club appearance this weekend.
“You do pick up bits and pieces in the press and obviously we have a couple of Newcastle players out there with the squad who have been in regular contact, but you can’t let it affect you so I’ve just been training hard with the Falcons and maintaining my focus on what will be a tough game against Sale.
“It’s a relief in a sense that it’s finally been decided I’m here for this weekend, and that the uncertainty aspect has been removed. I can now keep preparing for a huge match at Kingston Park without any distractions, and the boys are all ready for a big start to the Guinness Premiership season.”
Despite missing both of Newcastle’s pre-season outings Flood is fully fit and raring to go, insisting: “Training has gone well this week, the team is very focused and the attitude of the players has been spot-on.
“Speaking to the boys who have been here for the whole summer the feeling is that we have had a much more stable and structured pre-season compared to this time last year when had uncertainty over who the director of rugby would be, and we feel we’re ready to put in a strong performance on Sunday.
“It won’t be easy against a quality team like Sale with class players like Charlie Hodgson in their side, but we’re ready for the challenge and looking forward to what will be a big season for the club.”
Commenting on the summer changes at Kingston Park and the renewed optimism in the Falcons camp, Flood said: “We have Phil Dowson as club captain off the back of winning the Churchill Cup, and he is really making his presence felt behind the scenes with the way he leads the squad.
“We have a new training ground which we have been using for the past fortnight, and the arrival of Steve Bates to the management team has made a big impact along with the coaches we already had in place.
“With a strong start to the season we can give ourselves a great footing to really attack the Guinness Premiership, but it all starts this Sunday so we’re not looking beyond that.”
» top | more articles | 
| 
| shown 203 times
