Young has been influential at scrum-half in recent weeks

Newcastle Falcons scrum-half Mickey Young believes European Challenge Cup success would be the perfect response to the club's early season critics.

Falcons travel to Saracens in the ECC quarter finals on Sunday, knowing a win would leave them one game away from a final and potential Heineken Cup place.

"There were a lot of people who wrote us off at the beginning of the season," he told BBC Radio Newcastle.

"To end up with some silverware at the end of the season would be massive."

Young himself has been an increasingly regular fixture in the Falcons' first-team, having forced his way reckoning with a string of strong performances in the earlier rounds of the ECC.

And the former West Hartlepool 20-year-old believes the presence of colleagues such as Tom May has been crucial to his development.

"It's been a strange season really, as I started off at Blaydon and then I was going with the sevens and now I've been starting since 2009 began really," he said.

"Tom May having a fantastic season, he has been driving the pace, making decisions and he's playing very well.

"It helps me having someone like Tom there, he's a very confident player, plays very well in the team, he drives me along and helps me."

Young joined the Falcons development team from West Hartlepool and has also figured for the England rugby sevens side.

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