Rugby
Newcastle Red Bulls: A Bold New Era
International stars, homegrown heroes, and lessons in Geordie: inside Newcastle Red Bulls’ bold new era
It’s a bright afternoon in early September, and the crowd at Newcastle’s Kingston Park Stadium are on their feet. They’ve just witnessed a moment as welcome as the Tyneside sunshine. Newcastle Red Bulls have completed a sweeping attack that started deep in their own half, a flowing move finished with a try in the corner by the team’s star full-back Josh Hodge. This is the kind of attacking rugby that fans have been longing for. It may only be that fans have been longing for. It may only be a pre-season match against a weakened Glasgow Warriors side, but the ambition on display has every one of them excited.
It’s been many years since the team formerly known as the Newcastle Falcons had anything much to celebrate. Hooker George McGuigan, now 33, joined Newcastle’s academy when he was just 14 years old, and a moment from his first season with the Falcons in 2011 – a home game at Kingston Park against Bath – has stayed with him: “I remember looking around the stands and thinking to myself, ‘Oh God, there’s no one here.’”
Josh Hodge: Multi-Sport Talent
© Theo McInnes
Newcastle has been a bastion of rugby union in the north-east of England throughout the professional era, with no other top-tier teams nearby. The Falcons were league champions in their first-ever season in the sport’s top-flight, the Premiership, way back in 1997/98 when a team packed with stars including Jonny Wilkinson, Rob Andrew, Inga Tuigamala, Pat Lam, Doddie Weir and Tony Underwood held off north London-based Saracens by a single point.
Newcastle Red Bulls are now one of the most exciting projects in world rugby
But that success proved to be an elusive high point. Aside from two domestic cup triumphs, Newcastle slumped first to mid-table mediocrity and then into scraps to avoid relegation from the Premiership before eventually succumbing for the first time in 2012 and then again in 2019. Small budgets and a lack of success forced the young talent coming through to head elsewhere to further their careers. McGuigan is currently in his third stint with Newcastle after moves away to Leicester Tigers and Gloucester in a bid to enhance his England national team credentials.
“It was very difficult,” McGuigan admits. “I never really wanted to leave, either time. Newcastle is where I’ve lived since the age of 15. It’s kind of home.” Hodge found himself in a similar position in 2020, moving to the opposite end of the country to join Exeter Chiefs in Devon. The 26-year-old future England prospect was also part of Newcastle’s junior academy before being promoted to the first team. Then, while he made progress playing for Exeter, a significant announcement in August last year changed things.
Newcastle Red Bulls
© Theo McInnes
Red Bull were taking over the ailing Newcastle Falcons. And they wanted to bring both McGuigan and Hodge back to the club where it had all started for them. “It’s the boyhood club that I played for,” says Hodge, “so it was like a dream come true.”
Christian Wade, now 35, has been a rapid winger throughout his rugby career. One of the deadliest try-scorers in England, he started out with Wasps before going on to play internationally.
The player from High Wycombe also spent four years out of rugby trying to make it in the NFL. Wade ended up on the practice squad of the Buffalo Bills, famously scoring a touchdown in a pre-season game with his first-ever carry as a running back – a remarkable feat considering he’d never played American football while growing up.
Even with all of Wade’s experience, nothing matched Newcastle Red Bulls’ pre-season camp this summer in Austria, where the squad visited Red Bull headquarters and were put through their paces. “We were out there working hard, man. We were getting after it.”
Off the training field, they linked up with athletes from very different disciplines. Danny MacAskill, the Scottish mountain bike and street trials rider, pulled off a series of “absurd” jumps, according to Hodge. Fitness athlete Harry Lightfoot and elite HYROX star Jake Dearden led a special training session for the players that involved them hitting certain distances on the ski erg, combined with press-ups, sit-ups and squats.
Newcastle Red Bulls: Rising Stars
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The squad’s new home and away kits for the upcoming 2026/27 season were also delivered – by helicopter. “I don’t think anybody in rugby would have experienced that before,” laughs Wade.
The Newcastle Red Bulls squad has undergone a radical overhaul this summer: 24 players coming in – more than any other team in the rebranded PREM – and 25 going out. Among the catalogue of new signings were additions to the coaching team, with defence coach Calum MacRae joining head coach Dan McFarland.
“Every team will have to integrate new players ahead of a new season, but this summer has really been a unique scenario for us,” McFarland says. “It’s a lot of change in a short period of time, so as well as the obvious nuts and bolts of getting fit and putting in place a game plan, a big body of work for us has been around cohesion.”
I want us to play fast, attacking rugby that gets our supporters out of their seats
This has put the onus on senior players in the squad – Wade and McGuigan included – to help the many new faces settle in. “We’ve been working hard to connect as a group, because obviously we don’t know each other well,” says Wade. He explains that, in addition to the Austria trip, the squad were broken up “into four mini teams” comprising a mix of senior players and academy prospects from across each position group for “a bit of healthy competition”. Each had an attachment to a certain aspect of the North East’s heritage: the ship-building industry, coal mining, farming and fishing. They competed in games and challenges that included creating a video tour of Newcastle, in which players chatted to locals and learned about the city.
Christian Wade, A New Chapter at Newcastle Red Bulls
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One of the most significant new signings finding their feet is Hoskins Sotutu. Landing the former New Zealand international, another player who has been tipped to play for England in the future, is widely regarded as a huge step forward by Newcastle and a sign of their intent. “It’s a massive coup, isn’t it?” says McGuigan. “Obviously, everyone was chasing him. Saracens and Gloucester were after him, so to get him here is obviously exciting.”
Before his arrival this summer, Sotutu, a back- row forward signed from the Blues in Auckland, had been warned about the Newcastle climate, so he prepped accordingly, wearing plenty of warm layers. He arrived during a heatwave, sweating as he stepped off the plane. “Everyone has reassured me that it will definitely turn cold,” he laughs.
We could be at the start of becoming one of the best clubs in the world
Another part of the new players’ introduction to life in the north-east has included lessons in the local dialect. “They put together some paragraphs [for us to translate] into regular English, which was a pretty funny exercise,” says Sotutu. “A few boys from around the area helped out.”
Being one of several new faces arriving this summer, among them a number of New Zealanders – prop Pouri Rakete-Stones from Wellington’s Hurricanes and back-row forward Max Hicks from French team Perpignon have also joined – has made settling in easier for Sotutu. “If I was coming into a group that was pretty well gelled, there would a bit more pressure to try to maybe fit into a mould,” he says. “Everyone is trying to get to know the area and get to know the boys as well, so we’re all in the same boat.”
Christian Wade Eyes Chris Ashton’s Record
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Newcastle wasn’t the obvious destination for Sotutu when he made the decision to move to the PREM. The England-based side of his family are living in Ipswich, a five-hour drive away. What enticed him was the journey that Newcastle are seeking to embark on. He went through a similar experience with the Blues, a team stuck in their own long drought without success.
The experiences Sotutu and his teammates went through forged the Blues into a stronger group, before they eventually punched through the psychological barrier that had previously held them back and won the Super Rugby title in 2024. He can envision a similar trajectory at Newcastle. “That was one of the attractive things, coming into a team that has no sort of expectation, with everything to gain,” Sotutu says. “It’s something to look forward to. All the boys want to make Newcastle Red Bulls a team to be feared.”
Christian Wade Chases Historic PREM Rugby Try Record
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The challenge of transforming Newcastle also enticed Wade, who reached the very top of the game playing for England and the British and Irish Lions despite no real background in the sport while growing up. He has played a crucial part in preserving Newcastle’s spirits through tough times and brings that same positive energy to the revamped side. “I’ve always had this underdog mentality, this mindset of wanting to push to be the best I could be,” Wade says. “One of my main messages is just bringing that belief and people kind of feeding off that energy, regardless of whether we’ve been bottom of the league.
“As long as we pull together as a team, there’s nothing that we can’t achieve. We need to change that narrative, and that’s something everybody here is on board with. Those days of being at the bottom of the table, even in the bottom half of the league, are behind us.”
George McGuigan, Experienced Hooker
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But this doesn’t come without hard work. The team have been working on the technical details – “Probably what we were missing last year,” notes McGuigan – while during pre-season there’s been a clear emphasis on “repeatability off the ground”, meaning players’ ability to get back on their feet after rucks and tackles as quickly as possible to support the next phase of play.
As long as we pull together as a team, there’s nothing that we can’t achieve
The reasoning behind this, as Wade explains, is that Newcastle want to become one of the most entertaining sides in the PREM this season. “If you’re watching us this year, be prepared for more exciting tries, exciting gameplay,” he says. “We’re definitely bringing an ambitious style this year. That high energy and high effort are the main things we’ve been working on, which is definitely the reason why [training has] been so tough. We’ve been pushing the boat out there for sure, man. It’s exciting.”
During the pre-season, players have been putting in eight-hour days – 7:30am to 3:30pm – including two gym sessions and a two-hour rugby session followed by analysis, in service of this new vision. “Different teams will have their own different ways of playing rugby, which is absolutely fine, but the Newcastle Red Bulls’ way is not going to be a slow, grinding game,” says McFarland.
Rusi Tuima Impresses Newcastle Red Bulls Teammate George McGuigan
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Having most recently worked with the Kobe Steelers in Japan, the head coach is enjoying something of a homecoming himself. “I was a student at Newcastle University, and I used to come and watch the great Newcastle Falcons side that won the Premiership title in the 1990s,” McFarland says, “so I have a massive respect and appreciation for what has gone before. In terms of how we will play and what our aspirations are, I’m not going to put a ceiling on our ambition by saying [where] I want us to finish in the league table.
“I want us to go after every single game and to empower our guys to play fast, attacking rugby that gets our supporters out of their seats. We’ll be attacking from everywhere if it’s on, and that’s the message we’ve been giving to the players since day one of pre-season.”
All the boys want to make Newcastle Red Bulls a team to be feared
The new approach is part of the reason many of these players are here. Hodge is a particular fan of rugby’s increase in speed in recent years – “More reactive, more fast-paced, more instinctive plays, and being able to adapt very quickly,” as he puts it. Having followed Newcastle from an early age, particularly the team’s star player Jonny Wilkinson, Hodge is also keen to represent what has come before. “Being the kicker, the guy who takes a lot of the pressure off his team at times, Jonny’s the person that I looked up to,” he says. “And that’s what I want to bring to the table here at Newcastle Red Bulls.”
It’s the halfway point in a double header of pre-season matches for Newcastle at Kingston Park, playing against Rotherham Titans in their first game – an entertaining 43-36 win featuring plenty of academy and university players – before taking on Glasgow Warriors (a game Newcastle Red Bulls will go on to win 47-31). The crowd of around 3,000 is impressive for a pre-season fixture.
Hodge has a small queue of young supporters lining up for selfies as he comes over to the touchline, a full-circle moment for him having watched Newcastle here as a boy.
Newcastle Red Bulls’ Hoskins Sotutu Eyes Potential England Rugby Future
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Irene, Steve and Dave, all in Red Bulls kit, have been watching Newcastle for close to 20 years. “Through the highs and the lows,” says Irene, drawing out both words.
The squad’s hard work is already evident. “We were very impressed last week with the running, the tackling, everything,” says Irene. “Best we’ve seen in a long time.”
“All the changes are great,” adds Steve. “We’re just looking forward to the season starting.” Dave is realistic about the season ahead: “It’s not going to be straightforward, straight to the top of the league. It’s going to be a few seasons.”
But the optimism is palpable. After two tough decades following Newcastle, these supporters are owed some good times. As are McGuigan and Hodge, now back at the team that feels like home. All are aware that in this new era of Newcastle Red Bulls a page is being turned.
“This is now one of the most exciting projects in world rugby,” says Hodge. “We could be at the start of becoming one of the best clubs in the world.”
Check out more here: newcastleredbulls.com