DEAN RICHARDS can finally see some light at the end of tunnel as Newcastle Falcons’ absentee list begins to shrink following a challenging start to the season.

A couple of months ago, there was a point when Falcons had 20 senior players nursing an injury of some description, and a further nine unavailable because they were on international duty at the Rugby World Cup.

With that in mind, perhaps it is little wonder that they are still searching for their first point of the season, with defeats to Gloucester, Northampton and Exeter leaving them at the foot of the Aviva Premiership table.

Last weekend’s 41-3 home thrashing at the hands of Exeter was an especially chastening affair, but after some intense soul-searching at the start of the week, Richards is determined to begin repairing the damage when he takes his side to newly-promoted Worcester this weekend.

And while he will still be without a number of his leading lights for another couple of weeks, he is delighted to see some key players gradually returning to the fold.

“Juan (Socino) is available this weekend, and that’s good news,” said Richards. “He played very little rugby during the World Cup, so in that respect he will be available to us. We always said (international) players would be judged on a case-by-case basis, and Juan is up for selection at Worcester.

“Mark Wilson will be back within a week or two, then Zack Kibirige too, and there are other boys who are coming back into the fold. Tane (Takulua) came back from the World Cup with a twisted ankle. We thought it was a four-to-six week injury and he has been out for four now, so he is not far away.”

Last weekend’s home defeat saw a section of the Kingston Park crowd turn on Richards and his players, and while there were mitigating factors to help explain the paucity of Newcastle’s performance, the director of rugby is still in no mood to excuse what he regards as a collective failure.

“It was a bad day at the office, and one of the poorest performances we’ve given out since I’ve been here,” he said. “It was on the back of a really good week’s training, which is why it was particularly disappointing.

“To say whether we got it right or the boys got it wrong – we are in it together, and it just didn’t happen on the day. We gave away some silly penalties in the wrong area of the field, which allowed them the positions to exploit us, and if you give a team like Exeter that sort of positional opportunity, they will take it every time.”

Having been promoted from the Championship last season, it was anticipated that Worcester would be battling with the likes of Newcastle and London Irish to avoid relegation this term.

That could still happen, but while Falcons and Irish are pointless, Worcester are five points ahead of them after recording a shock win over Northampton and a narrow bonus-point defeat at Gloucester last weekend.

“They are physical and well drilled,” said Richards. “They’re a good team and will offer most teams in the league a challenge.

“They beat Northampton, although the Saints are a funny team at the moment. You’ll probably be able to gauge from other results where they are in the league.”