“IT’LL be better next season” is a familiar refrain in all under-performing corners of the sporting landscape: you even hear it from the good rugby folk of north-east England, whose one true high point was the sight of Rob Andrew, Inga Tuigamala and a wet-behind-the-ears Jonny Wilkinson guiding Newcastle to the inaugural Premiership title way back in 1998. Talk about a triumph of hope over expectation.
Happily, the Tynesiders’ attachment to space-cadet thinking may be nearing its end. A quarter of the way through the current regular season, small steps of p...