'Start-up' Newcastle tapping into Red Bulls spirit

It is all change at Newcastle Red Bulls as they prepare for the new Prem season, but they plan to tackle it with the sort of fearless approach for which their owners are renowned.

With Red Bull taking over at Kingston Park in August 2025, it was a scramble to get things in place for last season.

As a result, Newcastle could not bridge the gap to the other nine teams and finished bottom for a fourth successive campaign, with just two wins in 18 games.

But, after a huge influx of players in the summer, 'Red Bulls 2.0' under new head coach Dan McFarland are ready to embrace the challenge as they begin with a daunting trip to champions Northampton Saints on Friday night.

"It couldn't be set up any better for a spectacle for us," McFarland said. "The team starting at the back of the grid against the team on pole position.

"For us, it's a massive challenge and exactly the sort of thing a Red Bull team would relish going after, something that's hugely tough but really exciting to be involved in."

Englishman McFarland has returned home to head up that challenge after a successful spell in Japan as forwards coach at Kobelco Kobe Steelers.

The Red Bulls had three different head coaches last season with Steve Diamond, Alan Dickens and then Stephen Jones in charge but McFarland feels like the first proper appointment by the new ownership for this role.

"One of the reasons this was so attractive was trying to pull something together from scratch, basically being a start-up," he said.

Previously head coach at Ulster, the 54-year-old has got used to big business and rugby working together and he has tapped into the Red Bull organisation in his first few months on Tyneside.

Newcastle have recruited no fewer than 25 new players for this season so gelling that number of people together in a few weeks presents a significant obstacle.

But he reveals they benefited from a trip to the organisation's headquarters in Salzburg in Austria in pre-season to help a new playing squad gel and feel part of a wider family.

"Outside of Japan, big corporations don't get involved in rugby clubs," said McFarland.

"It's very rare, to have that backing but it's also the way Red Bull go into these kinds of ventures. It's not a feeling of 'let's see how it goes'. It's in with two feet and 'we've deliberately chosen you, Newcastle, because we believe we can do special things with you'.

"That is pretty special and they back it up with the support, the opportunities they offer for collaboration at different levels within the organisation - it could be for athlete performance teams, elite athletes and definitely in marketing."