FORGET Good Friday – Newcastle Falcons are preparing for a ‘Goode Sunday’ this weekend as Andy Goode ends his professional rugby career for a second time.

Goode initially announced his retirement last September, calling time on a 17-year playing stint that saw him make more than 200 senior appearances for Leicester Tigers and win 17 England caps.

However, he was persuaded to reverse his plans in December when he answered an SOS call from Falcons director of rugby Dean Richards who was desperate for some experienced fly-half cover following an injury to Mike Delany.

Goode has made six Newcastle appearances since then, contributing to crucial wins over Leicester and Northampton and establishing an instant rapport with the Kingston Park crowd.

Sunday’s game against Wasps marks the end of his contract, and he will leave the North-East with extremely fond memories of the unexpected footnote to his career.

“From day one, the players and staff have been brilliant,” said the 35-year-old. “Dean took the mickey out of me in the first team meeting, everyone joined in and that settled everything for me.

“Through training and playing, I have earned the lads’ respect and just tried to have a positive impact any way I could. The fans up here have been brilliant in adopting me as one of their own.

“I don’t know how many people get honorary Geordie status after six games, but it can’t be many, although I have to say a lot of the plaudits I’ve received are on the back of the efforts of players elsewhere in the side.

“But Mike is back fit now. I’ve had a couple of good nights out in Newcastle, and all in all, it has been a success.”

The move has also been a positive one from a Falcons point of view, with Goode’s experience of running the backline contributing to an upturn in form that took the club out of the relegation zone.

A run of six consecutive home wins in all competitions took Falcons clear of London Irish, but the gap to the bottom side has shrunk in recent weeks with Newcastle suffering defeats at Exeter and Bath.

London Irish’s surprise 23-18 win over Gloucester last weekend means Falcons head into the final five games of the season with a four-point gap to the foot of the table, and the home game with the Exiles on April 17 could well be the match that settles things.

Before entertaining their relegation rivals, Falcons take on Wasps and Harlequins, and while he will only be involved in the first of those games, Goode is confident there is no need to panic.

“We have got ourselves into the position where it is in our own hands,” he said. “When I arrived at Christmas, we were bottom of the league, but we’ve got some players back from injury, slowly grown in confidence and the coaching has been good.

“There is now a decent understanding of how we are trying to play the game. That has come from a settled team, and we have three huge home games left.

“Our record at Kingston Park has been pretty good since the turn of the year, and it’s important we take that form into these games with the fans right behind us.

“I’m 100 per cent confident we will stay in the Aviva Premiership, and there is nobody here talking about relegation.”

That said though, with London Irish taking on fellow strugglers Worcester tomorrow, there is an acceptance that Falcons need to get back to winning ways on Sunday.

“We’re playing good rugby,” said Richards. “We pushed Exeter for 70 minutes, more than many teams have. We’re close, we just sometimes lack that bit of accuracy at the right time.

“The boys try hard, it’s just about that understanding and experience that Goodey brought when he came in. Now, we have Mike Delany back doing it in a slightly different way.”