North East | Newcastle Red Bulls start new era with a defeat

Exeter Chiefs 38 - 15 Newcastle Red Bulls

Newcastle Red Bulls began life after Steve Diamond with a Premiership defeat at Exeter.

Author | Sophie T

Stadium | Sandy Park

Two tries from England wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, along with scores from Ross Vintcent and Joseph Dweba, gave the hosts a commanding 24-10 lead at half-time.

Newcastle, who parted company with director of rugby Diamond on Wednesday, offered little threat against the side that finished one place above them last season and were comfortably outplayed in the first half.

Feyi-Waboso completed his hat-trick after the interval before Harvey Skinner added a fifth try. Alex Hearle’s late score provided only faint consolation for the visitors as Exeter moved up to second in the early Premiership table, while the Red Bulls remain bottom and without a point.

Still work to be done for Newcastle Red Bulls.

View from the stands

After opening their 2025-26 campaign with defeat to Saracens, the new owners at Red Bull moved swiftly to part company with Steve Diamond.

Yet his departure brought little change in fortune, as Newcastle struggled once again and rarely troubled their hosts on the longest away trip of their season.

Best reaction

Newcastle Red Bulls head coach Alan Dickens told local and national media: “I am disappointed. At the end George McGuigan spoke to the players about the frustration that we let them in through our errors. 

There's a couple of line-outs where we got the opportunity to put them under pressure and we just allowed Exeter to win the ball and clear their lines. There's no taking away anything from Exeter, I thought they were pretty clinical today."

One Newcastle fan told us: "Terrible start to the season. I'm not convinced those running the club know what they're doing to be honest."