Diamond’s warning to his young guns
STEVE Diamond has warned his young charges at Newcastle to beware of offers from other Premiership clubs because they could find themselves making up the numbers in bloated squads.
Diamond, who was appointed consultant director of rugby by the Falcons in January after Alex Codling left the club, will lose three of his brightest prospects at the end of the season.
Prop Phil Brantingham is joining Saracens, the likely destination of outside-half Louie Johnson, and openside flanker Guy Pepper, who was called into the England squad during the Six Nations, is set for Bath.
“I will be looking to have a squad of 34 or 35 players next season backed up by 12 from the academy,” said Diamond, who was a long-serving director or rugby at Sale before a shorter stint at Worcester. “Some clubs have 60 or 70 players and still come up north trying to get players out of academies.
“They are warehousing players. It is disappointing that the three are leaving. They made their decisions pretty much before I arrived and there is no point going over why. I have to create an environment where lads like that do not want to go.
“One of the ways you do that is guaranteeing game time and what those three certainly will not get is game time at those clubs. The way you progress as a player is training with better players some of the time but playing at the highest level.
“The three have their reasons and I respect those, but they are going into big clubs with massive squads and they want to be careful that they are not just another name on the roster.
“I do not think money is at the root of this. Part of the rhetoric of me coming here after conversations with the owners is to set some ambition and encourage people to stay and maybe move on at the right time when they have 70 to 100 Premiership appearances under their belt.
“They are a loss having come through the academy but we have to move on. Clubs will tell players they are more likely to win things with them. Saracens have a track record of success but Bath do not. My advice to them was not to go, even if signing for one year here, because they will get more out of me playing them every week than becoming trapped in the bowels of the super clubs.”
Diamond is used to having to make do on a smaller budget than other top-flight clubs. For most of his years at Sale, the Sharks did not reach the salary cap maximum but they regularly qualified for the Champions Cup.
“I will put together a team of highly competitive players. Bournemouth do not pay anything like the two Manchester clubs or Liverpool in the Premier League but they compete, Brighton also.
“We have to be slicker in our recruitment and make sure
