Newcastle Falcons boss Dean Richards has revealed that his overriding emotion following his side's Premiership defeat to Leicester Tigers this afternoon is one of "frustration".

A 17-minute second-half hat-trick from Vereniki Goneva saw the Tigers pull away from Newcastle on their way to a 36-17 victory at Welford Road.

However, Richards was unhappy that the Fijian's third try - which saw the winger intercept the ball on his own line and race the length of the field - was allowed to stand due to a controversial offside call.

"For the interception try, Tom Youngs was five yards offside. We had a four on two there and if we had been allowed to nail that rather than the referee and the touch judge missing the offside it might have been different. That was a 14-point turnaround," Richards told reporters.

"We also missed opportunities and we have got to nail them. They were clear opportunities, not half-chances. The feeling in the dressing room is one of frustration. You set your stall out and go out to do things and it's taken out of your hands. There's an element of frustration there.

"We have to understand what the referee is looking for better than we did today, we could never quite get on the right side of him."

Newcastle's next match sees them host London Irish at Kingston Park next Sunday.