WITH Jamie Noon among the
four backs who are injured,
Mathew Tait switches from full
back to outside centre for Newcastle
Falcons' Guinness Premiership
trip to Harlequins tomorrow.
Noon is ruled out by the shin
injury he suffered at Leeds last
week, when his replacement,
Alex Tait, tore a hamstring seven
minutes later.
With utility back Joe Shaw also
on the casualty list, Tom May reverts
to full back with Ollie
Phillips on the wing and Tim
Visser providing cover on the
bench.
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Scrum half Lee Dickson picked
up a thigh injury at Leeds, so Hall
Charlton has an unexpected
chance to prove he can still perform
at Premiership level following
his spell with Blaydon.
The only change to the pack is
in the back row, where Andy
Buist comes in at blind side withcaptain
Phil Dowson switching
to No.8 as Russell Winter is injured.
Geoff Parling is on the
bench after recovering from knee
trouble.
After conceding the fastest try
in Premiership history at Leeds
last week, acting boss Steve
Bates said: "It was the worst start
you could imagine, and it's fair to
say we've been practising a lot of
kick-off receipts this week.
"Having said that, it was about
as much of a freak try as you are
ever likely to see with the way the
wind caught the ball and how it
bounced straight into the guy's
arms.
"The pleasing aspect was how
well the boys rallied for the remaining
39 minutes of the half
and put themselves in an excellent
position to take the game
with the wind at their backs.
What the players needed to do in
that second half was stick to the
game plan we had talked about
rather than playing the way we
did after half-time, and we have
been working on that all this
week in training."
Newcastle Falcons: Tom May, Ollie Phillips,
Mathew Tait, Toby Flood, John Rudd, Jonny
Wilkinson, Hall Charlton, Micky Ward, Rob Vickers,
Carl Hayman, Andy Perry, Mark Sorenson,
Andy Buist, Ben Woods, Phil Dowson (capt)
■ The Barnard Castle School
trio of Rory Clegg, Tom Catterick
and Alex Gray all scored tries as
England Under-18s thrashed
Italy 78-8 in their opening match
in the Six Nations Festival in
Cork.
They all started on the bench,
but fly half Clegg was on for five
minutes as a blood replacement
in the first half, then returned
after 57 minutes and kicked four
conversions. Catterick went on at
full back for the second half,
while Gray was at No 8.
England next face France at
Cork Institute of Technology on
Sunday.
■ Newcastle Falcons have sold
all their seats for the European
Challenge Cup quarter-final
against French side Castres at
Kingston Park next Saturday.
The club are aiming to beat
their European home crowd
record of 7,426, set for the 39-0 defeat
of Connacht in December,
and the North Terrace will be
open to cope with demand.
Standing tickets still remain
on sale at £15 for adults and £10
for concessions and juniors in advance
of match day.
Fewer than 100 seats remain on
sale for the Guinness Premiership
visit of Leicester Tigers to
Kingston Park on Sunday, May 4.
■ Four North East clubs are to
receive a total of £830,000 from
the Rugby Football Foundation,
a charitable trust established by
the RFU to provide funding for
capital projects to support the recruitment
and retention of players.
The cash will enable Morpeth
to spend £365,000 on new changing
rooms, the funding coming
from a partnership comprising
the Rugby Football Foundation,
Sport England, Castle Morpeth
Council and club funds.
A similar project at Blyth will
benefit to the tune of £362,000,
while at Seaton Carew the accent
will be on an improved playing
surface, with nearly £93,000 being
spent on the two pitches.
Percy Park are to receive a
£6,000 grant for car park resurfacing
and security lighting.
■ Stockton include one of their
star products of recent years,
Scott Powell, at No 8 for tomorrow's
visit of Gosforth.
After playing for Harrogate he
spent time in Australia, but his
return enables Phil Austen to
move forward to form a new second
row pairing with skipper
Mark Skirving, who is fit after a
month out with a knee ligament
injury.
Flanker Chris Driver returns
at open side for Anthony Parkinson,
Dan Muirhead reverts to
hooker, and Owain Jenkins regains
the scrum half slot from
Paul Armstrong. Andy Bare
comes in at full back as Tom Jeffery
has suffered a recurrence of
his ankle injury.
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