Only one place to start – a win that will also surely begin Newcastle’s sales pitch to prospective buyers.
Before the Falcons beat Exeter on the other side of the international break, they had been on a losing streak of 25 successive top-flight defeats.
Now, after a string of wins in the Premiership Cup, they have five victories in their last six games – the most recent and most notable being this downing of Saracens.
The underdog had their day in some style. This was no smash-and-grab. No defensive trenches were dug into the Kingston Park 3G. Instead they were just sharper and cleaner than the visitors, with a ferocious commitment to their cause.
Two incisive tries from their wings – Alex Hearle slicing under the posts, Adam Radwan scampering into the corner – came after composed, clinical play from the men inside.
The pack led by the tungsten-tough trio of Jamie Blamire, Tom Gordon and Callum Chick resisted Saracens’ attempts to wrestle the initiative back.
A lack of international call-ups has also allowed then to forge some impressive cohesion.
Their performance was soundtracked by movie hits as part of a cinema-themed ticketing push, and when the final whistle segued into Kenny Loggins’s Footloose, the scenes were suitably joyous with the players celebrating long and hard with more than 6,000 fans.
