Insisting that home pride is a vital factor for his charges, Tait said: "Friday is huge for us, because it's in front of our own fans and it's a chance for us to show our supporters what we are all about this season.

"These are the guys who support the club by putting their hand in their pocket to come and watch us. They want to be entertained and they want to support a winning team, those are both massive motivations for the boys and it's down to us now to deliver.

"The players were hurting last weekend down at Sale just as the fans were, but they turned up for the recovery session on Saturday morning ready to work, switched on and determined to restore their pride. As a professional I always felt the best way to address a bad result was to get back in with a good one, and I'm sure our current players feel the same way."

Addressing areas for improvement from the opening night, Tait said: "There was a lot of frustration from the Sale game, because we gifted them their tries through our own errors rather than the opposition being anything extraordinary.

"The lads were rightly upset about that, but we also created some good chances and from that point of view it was still fairly encouraging. We need to polish up in the backs, but the lads know that and they've been putting in the work during the week. The players are honest among themselves and with the coaches, they're getting on with the job and they know they have a massive opportunity on Friday night in front of the home fans."

Looking at the opening weekend of the Aviva Premiership as a whole, the dual-code Lion added: "I've watched all of the games, and the fans should be in for a good season because it seems like teams are playing a lot more rugby than the early part of last year.

"One noticeable thing was the fact that sides aren't committing many numbers to rucks, and the result is that the defence just fans out in bigger numbers than ever before. That's been surprising because I thought sides would be having more of a go at winning turnovers, so the fact that there are more defenders in the line obviously means we have to look at how we adapt to that when we attack teams.

"You do get more phases now to play more rugby, and the key thing is getting that balance between bashing over the gain line or working the ball wide to space. I believe we have players here who can do both, but it's all about decision making and intensity out there on the field when the pressure is being applied by defences. Some players last weekend went off on their own and tried to take on five or six tacklers singlehandedly, but there's only going to be one winner in that situation. It's our responsibility to make sure that runners are supported, and the players know that."

With the Falcons' scrum and line out proving happy hunting grounds last Friday, Tait praised his pack, saying: "The set piece went really well down at Sale, and I was pleased by that.

"In the line out we had a very good day and pinched quite a few of their throws, then in the scrum we also gave a good account of ourselves. Graham Rowntree has been up this week to speak to a few of the lads as part of his role as England scrum coach. I know Graham as a player from the Lions tour in 97, and I've always respected his opinion. He was at the game on Friday and said he was impressed with our scrum, and with guys like Tim Ryan who has joined us from Toulon. I'm not going to pretend to be an expert on scrummaging, but the feedback from the players and coaches who know their stuff in that area is that we looked strong there."

With Wasps looming on the horizon though, Tait added: "I watched them last weekend against Harlequins, and it was typical Wasps really.

"They're just as dangerous without the ball as they are with it, they get big numbers in the defensive line and under Shaun Edwards they like to shoot out and pressurise. Harlequins coped reasonably well at times with that by using certain ploys which we have looked at, but like any side Wasps will have been working in the week and will have certain tactics in mind against us."

Waiting to see if Wasps stick with England's Riki Flutey at fly half, he said: "It maybe surprised a few people to see him at ten last weekend, but he's a class player and he runs the ball well.

"They have other options like Dave Walder who knows Kingston Park well from his time at Newcastle, but that's for them to decide and we'll just focus on our own performance."

Tickets for Friday's game are still available by calling 0871 226 60 60, or from Kingston Park in person, with adult prices starting from just £15.