Falcons struggled to cope with the power of the Leicester pack, notably captain Jordan Crane

Newcastle coach Alan Tait has told his players they must match the physicality of the Premiership or continue to be overpowered by the division's best.

Falcons were beaten 44-19 by champions Leicester at Welford Road on Saturday, their seventh defeat of the season.

"We were getting taken out at the breakdown which is part of rugby - it's a man's game," Tait told BBC Newcastle.

"There were players being taken off the ball and not making issue of it, and that's surrendering to me."

Tait added: "It's really frustrating. You thought, we're really in for this today, and from the kick-off they go from their own 22 to right under our sticks, and that set the tone.

"Their forwards got the buzz, the Leicester crowd got right behind them and exactly what we didn't want happened within a split second, and there was no answer.

"It's not acceptable at this level."

Leicester's victory was built on a 25-minute spell after the break in which the pack, marshalled by captain Jordan Crane, imposed itself on the Falcons forwards and the hosts scored five tries to build an unassailable lead.

"I've said to our forwards, that's where we let ourselves down, 10 minutes of getting bullied, and that's unacceptable," Tait continued.

"You can't get bullied in this game, and our forwards have got to put their hands up.

"It's an area where we can't go all out next week and kill each other at the contact, because that's not the way we want to coach them, and also you don't become a tough guy in a week.

"So they've got to dig deep themselves. I want them to have a meeting and get this issue with the contact area sorted out, because it was embarrassing at times."

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