Diamond is upbeat after Tigers defeat

STEVE Diamond refused to be too downhearted after Newcastle Falcons ended their Gallagher Premiership season with a 42-20 at Leicester Tigers on Saturday.

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Leicester, who booked a semi-final place with the win, huffed and puffed in opening up a 14-6 half-time lead thanks to tries from Hanro Liebenberg and Josh Bassett.

But the hosts improved and eased clear in the second half through scores from Solomone Kata, Joe Heyes, Matt Rogerson and Ollie Hassell-Collins, with Ollie Leatherbarrow and Sammy Arnold grabbing Falcons consolations.

Falcons consultant director of rugby Diamond said: "I’m not too disappointed. I've come here many times and had a good hiding.

"We didn’t get a good hiding, so it is a positive.

“We maybe could have had a couple (more tries), but that’s the difference in the teams at the minute.