Newcastle Falcons flanker Richard Mayhew has praised the spirit of the squad following their vital win over London Welsh.

The Falcons took a big step towards survival in the Aviva Premiership on Sunday thanks to a 38-7 victory at Kingston Park.

With Newcastle now 20 points clear of the relegation zone, Mayhew believes that he and his teammates are "going in the right direction".

"We're still third bottom of the table so we can't hide from that fact, but we're definitely showing improvements on and off the field," he told BBC Sport. "The culture around the club is fantastic, the boys get on really well and work hard for each other and it's starting to pay dividends on the field.

"The result at the weekend showed that, and the previous results even though we don't want to lose are going in the right direction."

Newcastle are back in action this Saturday when they host Newport Gwent Dragons in the European Challenge Cup.