Opposition view: Falcons 'ran out of steam' during huge defeat to Saints

Prior to the game, Laycock had spoken of his side's desire to spoil Saints' party, insisting Falcons were ready to put a spanner in the play-off works.

But after Adam Radwan put them ahead, Newcastle shipped 10 tries as they suffered a sizeable loss at Kingston Park.

And Laycock, who has been in charge since the departure of Dave Walder in March, said: “The emotional turmoil of the last few months probably took its toll a bit, if we’re brutally honest, and unfortunately we ran out of steam.

“We need to dust ourselves down before our last game of the season at Sale, because there’s a lot of emotion flying around.

"Once that has settled we’ll have a good look at where we’re at, and what we’re going to focus on going into that last outing.”

Newcastle, who will finish the season bottom of the Gallagher Premiership, had won four of their previous five home games heading into the Saints clash.

But Laycock said: “We lacked intensity in defence and they were by far the most physical team.

“That told, especially in the second half, and particularly once we went down to 14 men (when Mateo Carreras was yellow carded during the second half).

“Our basics in attack weren’t good enough, we coughed up the ball a lot and just gave them opportunities in broken field, which is exactly what they want.

“They were more clinical in taking their chances, and we just weren’t good enough.

“The things that we can control just weren’t good enough, and despite both teams being in the opposition 22 four times, the score was 28-5 to them at one point.

“That tells the story of us not being clinical enough, and that’s really disappointing.”

On a night when the Falcons faithful said goodbye to club legends Will Welch and Alex Tait, Laycock said: “The result tonight can’t take away from the accolades that have rightly been given to Taity and Welchy, because they’ve had great careers here for more than a decade and a half.

“What they’ve done for this club isn’t about what happened tonight, and as disappointing as it was this evening we can still celebrate their own success over that time and give them the great send-off that they deserve.”