NEWCASTLE GET WINNINGS!

EWCASTLE HAVE trimmed the Falcons from their name but still grown wiiings.

- words JOSH GRAHAM

It certainly didn't happen overnight, but finally it's official. Newcastle Red Bulls is the new identity for PREM rugby in the North-East. Falcons owner Semore Kurdi had made no secret of his desire to exit the club responsibly and without his support it may have gone the same way as Wasps and London Irish. Thankfully a suitable buyer in the shape of the Austrian energy drink giants, Red Bull, has materialised when needed.

Red Bull has been sniffing around rugby for a while. They have sponsored individual players like Siya Kolisi, captain of back-to-back world champions South Africa, and Jack Nowell, the England and British & Irish Lions wing.

Red Bull has a massive sporting portfolio with the Formula One team the most recognisable outfit. There are football teams with the likes of New York Red Bulls in the MLS, RB Salzburg in Austria and RB Leipzig in Germany's Bundesliga.

Outside of more mainstream pursuits, Red Bull is big on extreme sports and entertainment. So it's not too much of a stretch to understand how a ferocious, physical contact sport aligns well. "I think it's sick," La Rochelle star Nowell tells Rugby World.

"I think rugby needs something like this. Red Bull understands that rugby's probably not the most popular sport, but it's such an amazing game to watch once you understand - it's just educating people to understand the rules.

"This sport gives you so many things that other sports don't, and I think it's only going to be good for rugby to have a brand like Red Bull so heavily involved. I think now the opportunity to be able to take over an actual team is going to be special because you can see the stuff they do around it - what they've done with F1, BMXing and biking... Every sport they get hold of, they do something special with."