A CONTENT Dean Richards hailed Friday night's emphatic victory over Leeds Carnegie as comfortably Newcastle Falcons' best display of the season.

Falcons ran in seven tries as they thrashed Leeds 53-10 at Kingston Park and find themselves two points clear of Bedford at the top of the Championship table after the weekend's games.

Their latest victory made it five wins out of five this season, but Richards felt it represented a significant step up from their four previous outings.

“It has taken a little while to come, but the boys are a little bit happier with their performance (on Friday),” said the Falcons head coach. “We are disappointed that we leaked a try, but in the grand scheme of things, the boys are happy with how we played.

“I think that was the most clinical we have been this season. We didn't miss many opportunities, we nailed pretty much everything.

“Last week down at Cornish Pirates the weather was awful, and two weeks ago against Doncaster there was a hell of a wind, but that was a lot better.”

Falcons only led 17-3 at the break, but they cut loose in the second half and ended up celebrating tries from Jimmy Gopperth (2), Jonny Golding, James Hudson, Rob Vickers and Luke Fielden, as well as a penalty score.

Newcastle return to action on Saturday when they travel to Birmingham to take on tenth-placed Moseley.