Steve Diamond will send his Newcastle Falcons side out on Friday night on a mission to end the club’s wait for silverware.
Newcastle welcome Gloucester in the Premiership Rugby Cup, continuing their bid to end a 21-year trophy drought.
The Falcons qualified for the knockout stages as top seeds from the group phase and will play all their matches at Kingston Park, including the final, if they advance.
“We don’t want to get to a quarter-final and bow out or a semi-final and bow out,” consultant director of rugby Diamond told BBC Sport.
“We want to try and win it and this is something we stand a chance of winning.”
Newcastle’s last trophy came in 2004 when they defeated Sale Sharks 37-33 at Twickenham in the Powergen Cup.
Since then, all of the current Premiership clubs have won a trophy – with the exception of the north east outfit.
The Falcons sit bottom of the league with two wins from their 11 games, but Diamond has targeted a strong showing in the Premiership Rugby Cup all season.
And with Newcastle not losing as many of their players to international duty as many other clubs, they sense an opportunity.
“Our captain, Callum Chick, produced a really good presentation ahead of the group stages called ’21’,” revealed Diamond, twice a winner in this competition with Sale in 2020 and Worcester Warriors two years later.
“It was about 21 years since we had won anything and he showed pictures of that day at Twickenham. Micky Ward, our defence coach, was playing for us.
“It really hit home with the players.”
If they beat Gloucester in the last eight, Newcastle would again be at home for a semi-final against either Bath or Harlequins.
And Diamond will try to instil a knockout mentality into his players with no second chances or bonus points on offer now.
“It’s different now, it’s all about winning,” he said.
“We need to be defensively good and when we get the opportunity to take points, we have to take them.
“You’ve got to win the game and we’ve got Brett Connon, who is an 82, 83% goal-kicker in the Premiership. You have to be building scores.
“If we can get to the corner and score a try, great, but if not and you get a penalty, knock it through the sticks and build up a score.”
