\n<\/p>\n
The encouragement for Newcastle on Saturday came from enjoying more possession and more territory than their opponents, gaining more metres – and they did finish with a losing bonus point.<\/p>\n
But Newcastle could not quite take advantage of possession late on to overturn the five-point deficit as an uplifting result remained out of their grasp.<\/p>\n
Next up is a trip to Exeter Chiefs on Sunday (15:00 BST). The Devon side have also lost their opening two games, but they have a stability in terms of working together under director of rugby Rob Baxter that Newcastle simply cannot match.<\/p>\n
“We’re going to Exeter, finalists last year but they’re going to be stinging because they haven’t won a game yet and they’re a good team,” said McFarland.<\/p>\n
“It’s a tough ask but we’re not sticking a limit on ourselves, saying these things are not possible. We’re not doing that, we’ll go there full of intent.” <\/p>\n
McFarland has described his side as Newcastle 2.0 after the acquisition of 25 players for this season, with not all of the new arrivals featuring yet.<\/p>\n
And while there have been lots of good steps forward, the challenge of learning to win needs to be overcome.<\/p>\n
“It’s directly linked to growth,” added McFarland. “If you’re not winning, you’ve got to get better. And that is a process that you’re working on day after day. <\/p>\n
“It doesn’t happen on one day. There might be a tipping point where it starts to happen but that’s because you’ve put a whole load of steps together before that.” <\/p>\n<\/div>\n