Newcastle centre Rob Vickerman is set to become a Cornish Pirates fan after finding himself trapped between a rock and a hard place.
Centre hoping Championship side can come to the rescue
Newcastle centre Rob Vickerman is set to become a Cornish Pirates fan for the next few weeks after finding himself trapped between a rock and a hard place.
Saturday will see either Vickerman's current employers Newcastle or his hometown club Leeds finish bottom of the Aviva Premiership table.
However should the Pirates topple Worcester in the two-legged Championship play-off, no side will be relegated as the Cornishmen haven't applied for entry into the top-flight.
And with the 25-year-old hoping both Falcons and Carnegie can survive, the graduate of the Leeds academy will be cheering on the Pirates.
Vickerman, who will be part of the Newcastle squad aiming to topple Bath on Saturday, told
skysports.com: "It is tough. A few people have been asking me about it up here.
"Obviously I want Newcastle to stay up but I've got a lot of family living in Leeds and as a Yorkshireman at heart I don't want to see Leeds to go down.
Bizarre
"As a result I've started wanting Cornish Pirates to win in the play-offs. I watched the TV closely when Bedford almost beat Worcester in the semis.
"For the neutral, it is a great weekend of rugby with top-four and top-six places to play for, while for us players at the moment we are fighting for our lives.
"The coaches, though, have been speaking to us and they have said all we can do is make sure our own house is in order."
Newcastle gave themselves a great chance of surviving when they picked up a bonus point from their defeat to Bath last time out.
That meant Leeds would need to pick up at least two more points from their trip to Northampton than Falcons manage at The Rec.
And Vickerman concedes the point from the 14-11 defeat at home against Bath could be the difference for his side.
"It was bizarre at the time," said Vickerman. "I was sat on the side as I had been replaced and when the final whistle went, people were jumping about even though we'd lost.
"But then we realised that this was a massively important point for us and it could be priceless in keeping us up."
