"The World Cup was obviously a massive occasion and a huge personal high, but club rugby is the bread and butter of any player's life so I'm really looking forward to getting back out there this Saturday," said Tait, who joins a Falcons team containing fellow England star Toby Flood after their efforts in France.

"We've actually been following all the Falcons games on the internet," revealed the former Barnard Castle School pupil.

"Myself and Toby would camp ourselves in our room in the team hotel to get Kevin Williams and Ian Smith's BBC Radio Newcastle commentary on the laptop, so via that route and also speaking to the lads back home on the phone we've been monitoring the progress from afar."

"Three wins from six league games is probably a reasonable start to the season for us, especially with so many injuries and guys away, then to put in the quality of performance we did down at Gloucester last weekend bodes well for us this weekend."

With injury to talismanic fullback Matthew Burke ruling the veteran out for the remainder of the current season, much attention will be on what number Tait sports on his back this Saturday against a Newport side which drew with London Wasps in a low-scoring encounter in their pool opener.

"I'll play wherever John Fletcher wants me to play," was the succinct response from Tait, whose regular berth at outside centre was swapped for the fullback slot during the Rugby World Cup final.

"I've played three games at fullback in my entire life, and I suppose the strange thing is that only one of them was for my club against Petrarca Padova last season, and the other two have been for England in a full Test match.

"I'll fit in wherever they need me to play, and I'm not taking anything for granted. We're lucky enough to have an incredibly talented squad here at the moment, and there are guys fighting for shirts right throughout the team."

One name to add to that list now is Tait's younger brother Alex, with the England Under-19s star having made his first team debut from the bench last weekend at Gloucester.

"From the clips I've watched on the video it looks like he had a good game, and I'm sure I speak for our whole family when I say I'm proud of how hard Alex has worked over the last year or so," he said of his sibling and current flatmate.

"Having said that, I'm currently not speaking to him at the moment because I came back from six weeks in France and he hadn't cleaned the house at all - the place is a mess!"

Asked about the prospect of an all-Tait partnership in the Newcastle back line, he replied: "We haven't played in the same team since Consett Under-8s, but it would make my mum happy anyway if we lined up in the same Falcons side - I think she would probably be in tears!"

Tickets for Saturday's EDF Energy Cup encounter are priced just £10 for adults, £7 concessions and £5 juniors. All seats have already sold out, but standing tickets remain on sale by calling 0871 226 60 60.