By GARY FITZGERALD

DEAN Richards feels his side took a big step to climbing up the Premiership table after ‘refusing to be bullied’ at Sixways.
The director of rugby was relieved after seeing his men grind out a first win of the new season at a half-empty stadium.
Toby Flood’s trusty boot ensured the North East outfit defied a potentially fatal dose of yellow card fever to get their Premiership campaign up and running.
But Falcons had to defy the handicap of losing two men to the sin bin before half-time to scrap and growl their way to four valuable poin...