Tuesday 22 November 2024

Newcastle Falcons’ foreign legion are available for Friday’s Gallagher Premiership visit of Exeter Chiefs following their international exploits, with Argentina wing Mateo Carreras saying he can’t wait to get stuck in.

The winger set social media alight in his last appearance for the Falcons, when his 80-metre solo try at Northampton accrued more than a million views and landed him a second successive Famous Grouse Try of the Month award.

He followed that up by starting in Argentina’s historic one-point victory over England at Twickenham, and returns now for club duty after also playing for Los Pumas against Wales.

“I loved my time away with Argentina, it’s always a huge honour to play for your country but it’s also great to be back with the Falcons,” said Carreras, who is joined at Kingston Park by countrymen Matias Orlando and Matias Moroni as well as USA lock Greg Peterson.

“I don’t find it difficult at all to go from the Argentina squad to being back with Newcastle – I think it’s exciting.

“If I’m involved in the game on Friday I want to give back to the team, and show the learning and improvement from when I was away with Argentina. Hopefully that will help us to bring back the win, but I’ve enjoyed being back with the Falcons so far.”

Crossing for five tries in five games in Newcastle colours this season, Carreras’ last club outing saw his name up in lights thanks to THAT try at Northampton.

Not that the 23-year-old is letting the acclaim go to his head.

“I don’t like to pay too much attention to social media,” said the former Argentina 7s and Under-20s international.

“I like to put the focus inside me to improve my rugby rather than reading what people are saying about me, but obviously it’s nice when things go well and you help the team. I’m not bothered about any individual praise because it’s all about the team. If I can score more tries like that and help the team to win, then that’s all I’m thinking about – the win.”

With that try, and his previous length-of-the-field effort against Bristol, comes extra attention from opposition defences – not that Carreras finds it a problem.

“Hopefully, yeah,” he said, when asked if he expects to become a marked man.

“I want to be in the head of the other team, I want them to think I’m a key player and I like to play like that.

“The reason is because if extra defenders are on me or if the defence is set up to stop me, then there is space or a weakness somewhere else on the field, and it’s all part of the puzzle to work out where the space is and to get the ball there.

“If I have two guys on me then someone else is going to be unmarked, and I’ve done my job by helping to create that space. I’m not saying that teams are going to do that, but if they do, then we adapt and use it to our advantage.”

Hopeful that his time away with Argentina can have a positive impact on his club game, Carreras said: “It was really good being on tour with the Pumas.

“As well as being a huge honour and playing in some great occasions it’s also a good environment to be in, and you learn a lot just by being there. I feel like I’ve improved during that time, and now I’m ready to take that into my club game if I’m selected.

“It was amazing playing at a full Twickenham against England. It’s a great stadium, I enjoyed the game and we managed to achieve a great result. When I was back in Argentina guys used to talk about Twickenham as some kind of mystical stadium, so to be there playing for my country was just so special.

“It was the best win of my life to be part of the team which beat England at Twickenham, and I’ll always remember that day.

“We made a lot of mistakes against Wales the following week. We prepared with the stadium roof open and the rain coming down, then when we got there for the game the roof was closed. We couldn’t change our tactics well enough, we started to kick a lot and maybe we could have been smarter in changing our decisions in that moment.

“It’s good to make those mistakes now and get them out of the way because we have the World Cup next season, and this is all good learning as we prepare for that.”

Fully focused now on Friday’s home date with Exeter, he added: “We’ve had meetings about Exeter and done our analysis on them.

“They’re a really physical team and their rugby reflects that, but if we do our job I believe we have a very good team which is capable of winning the game.

“We know what we need to do, and the focus now is on doing it.”

Click here to buy tickets for Friday’s 7.45pm kick-off.

London Irish can confirm the departure of full-back Tom Parton to Gallagher Premiership Club Saracens upon conclusion of the 2022/23 season.

To date, Parton has made 71 appearances for London Irish and contributed 19 tries, being part of the side that achieved promotion from the Championship in the 2018/19 season.

The 24-year-old made his Club debut aged 18 in the British and Irish Cup against an Ospreys select side in the 2016/17 season, going on to play five more times in the tournament that year.

London Irish Director of Rugby Declan Kidney recognised the contributions of Parton from his time in the Academy to making over half a century of appearances for his boyhood Club.

He said: “Tom has been a magnificent servant to London Irish in recent years and has been integral to helping the Club reach new heights, as well being a fantastic mentor on the training ground at Hazelwood.

“I speak on behalf of the team when I say Tom leaving will be a loss for us, but I look forward to continuing our work with him for the rest of the season and I have every confidence that current members of our squad can step up when he leaves us at the end of the season.”

Tom Parton thanked the members of staff and players at London Irish for his time in west London ahead his departure across the capital.

“It has been an honour and privilege to have represented this historic and traditional rugby club,” said Parton.

“Having been here from the age of 13 London Irish is all I have known, it has helped guide, mould, and shape me into the man that I am today, however the time has come for me to experience a change and embrace a new and exciting opportunity.

“To the coaches, physios, and background staff at the club, thank you for all of your tireless work. Through all the ups and downs that this sport throws at us you have always supported me.

“A massive thanks must also go to my teammates; the brotherhood and family ethos of the club is what makes it so special. Having experienced that for 10 years with a core group of young academy players coming through alongside me has been the best thing about this journey. They say, ‘winning is great, but winning with your best mates is something else’ and it has been a pleasure to have shared so many great memories with you.

“And finally, to the London Irish supporters, without your tireless support, none of this would even be possible. The constant noise and passion that you have brought is something that has blown me away from my first day here, and I know that there is still much more to cheer about on the club’s journey.

“There is plenty of the season left and I look forward to giving my all to help the team achieve everything I know it’s capable of. London Irish will always be a special club to me so thank you all for making a childhood dream of mine come true.

“Thanks for the great craic.”