By Leipziger
February 5 2011

While watching Wales v England last night I began thinking about a few things. The recurrent theme is Newcastle Falcons being quite a way down the rugby ladder.

I missed the first 20 minutes as I didn't expect going to a private members' club (OK, anyone can eat there, but only members can drink) with a new friend for dinner would take so long, but as we watched the big screen in the Montagu Pyke on Charing Cross Road it wasn't long before I said to her “This is like a different world to what I watch every week”.

Watching aspects of Ben Youngs and Shontayne Hape's games, the way the backs created space, some powerful runs from Tom Palmer, the way England felt confident to front up to Wales, it was like watching the Royal Shakespeare Company as opposed to a primary school production of The Gruffalo.

I am an England fan for sure, but international rugby (and indeed the Heineken Cup in which a lot of these players compete) is something that is just there, something I don't have as much emotional investment in, certainly compared to some other people.

The Falcons are my rugby bread and butter, and it felt like I was just getting some scraps from a higher-class table last night. Very occasionally the Falcons will hit that standard, but nowhere near often enough to consider ourselves rugby aristocracy.

Moving on, I also thought about the player who was the eventual man of the match.

I don't tend to get emotionally involved with particular players like some fans, but Toby Flood is one I always think of with a little sadness.

I hate seeing him in another team's shirt (Leicester in his case), more so than any other player who has left us. He was on Question of Sport last week, and when he was being introduced they showed that try he scored against Italy where Jonny and I think Noonie set him up – the commentary was “Newcastle, Newcastle and Newcastle”. That was a time full of hope. A simpler time.

Yes I had watched Jonny Wilkinson develop, but Flood was different. Maybe it is the flair and pace he has that Jonny often lacks. For me he seems to show more emotion too, something I love to see in a player. For some reason, I really thought he would be a player who would play a big part in getting the Falcons get back to the top of the game.

Flood leaving us for greater glories that we just couldn't offer feels to me like I think I'd feel if a girlfriend left me for an 'upper class' bloke. I'd get over it (OK, I wasn't particularly upset when Flood left us, in fact I was slightly annoyed by his outburst about Fletcher's sacking) and be happy for them but there might always be regrets and “what ifs”.

As it is, Flood is now a supremely talented player, one of the top fly-halves in the northern hemisphere and is walking on the red carpet of international rugby. Yes we took him there first, but with Leicester he is now a regular there and all credit he put in a very good performance last night.

This all comes back to the fact that the Falcons are amongst the lower classes of professional rugby in England. We are not short of heart or lacking effort, but we lack the resources and pure quality to compete for top English players in their prime. Those we do discover ourselves tend to leave when the opportunity to better themselves with another club comes along.

I don't blame them for that. I just find it sad and I hope one day it will change.