Codling comforts sorry Falcons after brutal loss

This was another desperate afternoon for Newcastle, who have lost all eight of their Premiership matches this season and find themselves cut adrift at the foot of the table. Leicester scored seven tries - three of them for the flanker Tommy Reffell - and continue their upward trajectory that began with the return of their internationals, but for the Falcons it is shaping up to be a bleak winter.

- Gerard Meagher

Leicester 47 

Newcastle 3

Newcastle may not want for endeavour, nor talented youngsters, but there is a desperate absence of senior quality in their ranks and they have not won in the league since March. Indeed, they have won only twice in 2023 and the head coach, Alex Codling, has called on the club's hierarchy to "make decisions" with regards to their longer-term strategy.

The Falcons have cut their cloth accordingly in a competition plagued by financial troubles but their decision to spend considerably less than the salary cap permits was horribly exposed here against a side packed full of internationals.

"Newcastle have got decisions to make going forward around the strategy because there are some really talented youngsters but in the short term it makes life difficult," Codling said. "That's the bare facts of it. I can't dress it up any other way but I can't criticise the players.