Reports emerged this week that the Rugby Football Union is considering playing some England games in the north to revive interest in the sport, with St James' Park one of the possible venues. But across the city of Newcastle a more pressing problem is how the club rooted to the bottom of the Premiership can stay in the top flight, let alone produce their next batch of players for the national squad.

Should Newcastle lose at home to Northampton on Saturday afternoon and Worcester pick up a bonus-point win at London Wasps on Sunday, the Falcons could be 11 points adrift at the bottom rather than the current six that separates them from the promoted club. It is an unlikely scenario, given Worcester's inability to find the tryline, but these are still bleak times for the club who were once in the vanguard of the newly created professional club game in England in 1995.

Stuart Lancaster, England's new coach, has plans to base the national squad in the north but there is hardly a revivalist spirit in this part of the country. Last season Lancaster's former club Leeds were relegated and Newcastle were the team just above them. With Sale in transition and Edgeley Park not exactly a hotbed nowadays, it is likely that Lancaster's first England squad next month will not feature a player plying his trade for any club north of Leicester.

It may be something of a Christmas tradition in the Premiership that the club at the bottom during the festive season are relegated in the spring but in Newcastle they are not buying into this theory. Instead Saturday's game has been plugged in the city as a chance to complete a seven-game undefeated run at Kingston Park.

The takeover by the businessman Semore Kurdi last September has been a boost for the club after three years in which they have seen an exodus of players, and it has helped give Kingston Park state-of-the-art medical facilities. Newcastle's fly-half Jimmy Gopperth, for one, is looking at the match against Northampton with glass half-full in hand. "I have no doubt we'll still be in the Premiership at the end of the season," says the New Zealander who has consistently been Newcastle's best player since his move two years ago.

Gopperth can point to victories at Kingston Park against London Wasps and Gloucester that back his theory. Traditionally, visiting sides have not been at their best after making the long journey north but it is away from home that Newcastle are suffering. With their Boxing Day defeat at Sale they have gone six matches without picking up a bonus point on the road.

Gopperth, though, is not short of confidence as befits a man who has filled the big boots of Jonny Wilkinson at Kingston Park. "It is hard to pinpoint why we are so much better at home but there is a passionate crowd here and we feel a lot more comfortable playing in front of them.

"We are slowly getting players back from injury and trying to play a balanced game that will produce results. We don't want to play boring rugby where players are afraid to make mistakes and I honestly think we can cut through sides when we play our best rugby. There are some good players here and the spirit is excellent. We showed that we can compete with the best when we beat Toulon in Europe here and there is no lack of confidence."

Luck has not exactly been on Newcastle's side recently. The defeat at Sale summed up their season. Their back-row Tom Catterick pulled a hamstring in the warm-up while their South African centre Corne Uys, brought over by Alan Tait to beef up their young backline, lasted all of four minutes before injuring his groin. While he was off the field Tom Brady's brilliant try prised open the visitors' defence and the Falcons were chasing the game.

When Leeds lost their Premiership status last spring 17 players left the club, including the England flanker Hendre Fourie and their hooker Steve Thompson, who not very helpfully announced he was going to London Wasps before the season had finished. The Falcons know that the vultures are gathering. Leeds are struggling in the Championship and Newcastle's relegation would be a terrible blow for the game in the north-east.

Newcastle's plight will once again open the old debate about whether the Premiership should be ring-fenced. Perhaps not surprisingly, Gopperth is one of those opposed to the whole concept of relegation. "Relegation introduces a fear factor into the play of the teams near the bottom and if the clubs were not so inhibited by it we would see more adventurous rugby in the Premiership. I honestly think that if it was done away with there would be a knock-on effect throughout the country. It would snowball so much that the England side would benefit. Sides would be keen to attack more often."

Earlier this week the record crowd at Twickenham saw the glamorous side of the Premiership with an epic occasion between Harlequins and Saracens that the producers of The X Factor may have thought a bit over the top. Saturday afternoon at Kingston Park will be Newcastle's Big Game. There may be no fireworks, just the crackle of expectation as Newcastle fight for their Premiership lives.