WE CAN SURVIVE
Wells and Ford back Falcons to beat drop
OUT of the frying pan, into the fire — that is the scenario for Mike Ford and John Wells. Just four months after leaving the RFU amid the savage demolition of Martin Johnson’s England regime, they are immersed in a salvage operation which has reached desperation point.
They had already come through the World Cup debacle but, instead of taking their pay-off and dropping off the radar, the men who had taken charge of England’s defence and forwards since 2006 rapidly resurfaced on Tyneside.
What drew them to Newcastle was the challenge of a backs-to-the-wall fight against relegation from the Aviva Premiership under former South Africa coach Gary Gold.
Ford agreed to join the crusade in mid- January, Wells a fortnight later. Since then, the Falcons have beaten London Irish and Sale, drawn at home against leaders Harlequins, picked up a losing bonus point at Bath and been denied a similar consolation at Worcester.
However, Wasps have responded to the renewed threat to their topflight status by beating Irish and Gloucester to maintain an eightpoint advantage in 11th place.
The upshot is that Newcastle go into today’s game at Gloucester knowing that, if they lose and Wasps win, they will be relegated.
The stakes are high, but Ford has relished the chance to put the unsavoury footnote to his time with England behind him. He said: ‘The way Gary sold it to me was by saying, “We could both just sit at home and say we’re international coaches or we could try to save a club who are nine points adrift with nine games to go”. That appealed to me.
‘There were people saying, “you’re going to be the guys who take Newcastle down and that will always be on your cv.” But I saw it the other way; that we could be seen as the guys who saved Newcastle.
‘A big part of it was that I wanted to keep coaching. We had plenty of time to prepare for what was going to happen with England — it was pretty obvious we were going to leave. Newcastle came along at the right time.’
Wells, who had so much coaching success at Leicester before joining England, had a similar outlook, saying: ‘I have never worked in a struggling side — that for me is the biggest challenge. After the World Cup affair it was good to take some time out, but it is good to be back in the saddle.’
Having encountered the spirited defiance of Newcastle as an opponent in the past, Wells has sampled it first-hand in the last two months and added: ‘ What has stood Newcastle in good stead has been the fact that they are a nightmare to play against at Kingston Park. They have been in these scraps many times before.’
despite insisting Newcastle can survive, Ford believes the summer arrival of dean Richards will ensure the club bounce straight back up if they are relegated. The former England No 8 — coming to the end of his three-year ban over Bloodgate — has experience in taking on such a revival exercise, having guided Harlequins to promotion in 2006.
Wells is expected to stay on, while Ford is believed to be considering coaching offers from a host of Premiership clubs. Whatever happens, they have turned a corner, moved on and reignited their careers.
chris.foy@dailymail.co.uk
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