Parling delighted to shake off injury woe for Falcons

10:35am Friday 21st November 2008

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GEOFF Parling is hoping to put two months of injury misery behind him when he makes an eagerly-awaited return to Newcastle Falcons’ starting line-up in this evening’s Premiership game at Worcester.

Parling fractured his cheekbone when a line-out collapsed during the home defeat to Sale on the opening weekend of the season, and the towering forward has cut a frustrated figure on the sidelines ever since.

He made a brief return from the bench in last weekend’s defeat to London Irish and, having been promoted to Steve Bates’ starting line-up for this evening’s game at Sixways, is desperate to make up for lost time.

“My left cheekbone was fractured in four places,” said Parling. “But there’s a metal plate in there now and after taking a bit of contact over the last couple of weeks, I’m now back into it and full of confidence.

“I hate watching the game when I’m not playing, whether we win or lose, so being injured and having to watch two months worth of games has been horrible.

“It felt good to be playing again last Sunday, although it was obviously frustrating to only get 15 minutes when the scoreline was against us.

But just to have that involvement again was something I’m looking to build on.”

Parling’s return could hardly be timelier given Newcastle’s alarming run of form in recent weeks.

Excluding a facile European Challenge Cup victory over Cetransa El Salvador, the Falcons have lost their last six matches in all competitions, slipping to within three points of the Premiership relegation zone in the process.

Last weekend’s performance against London Irish was arguably their worst of the entire campaign, and Parling accepts a smarting Falcons squad will have to rebuild confidence quickly if they are to avoid a protracted battle against the drop.

“We started the season with a couple of good wins against Northampton and Bristol and the feeling among the boys was all very positive,”

he said.

“But the last month or so has gone against us and the key now is to get the confidence going again, enjoy playing rugby and get the smiles back on to our faces.

“The lads are still picking themselves up at the moment, and we know the first five minutes of the Worcester game will be huge in terms of setting the tone for the whole game. If we can get something as simple as a really big hit, a strong scrum, a stolen line-out or even a try during those opening exchanges, it will really set the tone.

It will get us playing with our heads up and hopefully lead to better things.”

■ Newcastle Falcons will be well represented in next week’s Dubai Sevens with two players in both the England squad and in the invitational KooGa Wailers lineup.

Scrum half Micky Young and winger Ollie Phillips will represent England in the main IRB Sevens event.

Fellow Falcons Ross Batty and Eni Gesinde will turn out for KooGa Wailers in the invitational section of the event.