Newcastle Falcons aren't giving up on their slim chances of an Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-final spot according to centre James Fitzpatrick.

The Falcons travel to Lyon in their final pool encounter this weekend knowing that they need to win on the road and need pool leaders Toulon to slip up away to Italian side Petrarca Padova.

Whilst admitting the odds are not in the English side’s favour, the Falcons are heading to France with hope.

“All we can do is take what we did against Padova on Sunday and use that momentum out in France,2 he told the Newcastle Chronicle.

“We need to have the same mind-set, and regardless of qualifying a win would be great for our confidence.

“We know the odds are massively stacked against us in terms of the quarter-finals with needing Petrarca to beat Toulon, so we will just worry about what we can influence ourselves.”

Newcastle grabbed their first victory under new director of rugby Gary Gold at the weekend, beating Petrarca 43-0 at Kingston Park and Fitzpatrick was delighted to get back to winning ways.

“To be honest I was just as happy with the zero at the other end than the 43 we scored,” he added.

“We did not concede a single point, and defence is something we have talked a lot about.

"At half-time we were very frustrated to be only 7-0 up, but we tried not to let it get to us.

“We kept squeezing and squeezing them, and eventually the floodgates opened. We didn’t panic, we kept playing and it paid off. They couldn’t keep up with us, and it was good to run in a few tries.”