Newcastle Falcons director of rugby Dean Richards labelled the English club’s chances of qualification for the quarter-finals of the Heineken Champions Cup next month as “tough” following back-to-back defeats by Edinburgh Rugby. The Falcons led Pool 5 after superb victories over RC Toulon and Montpellier in the first two rounds, but they have slipped to third following a 31-13 loss at BT Murrayfield to Edinburgh in Round 3 and a 21-8 reversal to the Scottish outfit at Kingston Park in Round 4. "We're still alive in terms of qualification, but we know it's going to be tough,” Richards told the Falcons’ website. "We basically need Edinburgh to lose both of their games and us to win both of ours with bonus points. All we can do is just give it our best shot.” Newcastle travel to Montpellier on January 12 and host Toulon on January 18, after what Richards described as “a disappointing afternoon” in Round 4. https://twitter.com/ChampionsCup/status/1075133833740201984 "At half-time we were ahead, like we were last week, but we didn't build on it,” he said. "We had an injury before the game, with Calum Green being replaced by Glen Young, and then we lost Johnny Williams, Nemani Nagusa and Glen Young during the first half. "That obviously doesn't help and we really needed a line-out caller, but Edinburgh were good on the day and deserved their victory. "They took their chances better than we did and we just didn't finish off our opportunities on the occasions where we cut them wide open. "We probably had more clean breaks than they did, but they were more clinical in making theirs count and you don't deserve to win when you can't put your chances away.”