STEVE Bates will oversee a series of last-minute fitness tests ahead of this afternoon’s Guinness Premiership game at Leicester, but a flu bug has already ended Rory Clegg and Adam Balding’s hopes of making Newcastle Falcons’ starting line-up.

Bates delayed naming his preferred starting XV until yesterday lunchtime, but the Falcons director of rugby could yet be forced to make further changes ahead of this afternoon’s kick-off.

Clegg and Balding are definitely unavailable after succumbing to the flu bug that has swept through the Newcastle camp, and at least five other players were being carefully monitored yesterday after falling foul of the virus earlier in the week.

Bates is hoping they will all pull through, although the Falcons chief will be without centre Jamie Noon thanks to England Performance Squad restrictions and injured duo Danny Williams and Micky Young.

The combination of injury and illness could not have come at a worse time for Newcastle, as they will kick off at Welford Road just three points clear of Bristol at the foot of the Premiership table.

Four domestic defeats in a row have plunged Bates’ side towards the relegation zone, and while back-to-back European Challenge Cup victories over Overmach Parma provided a glimpse of what the Falcons are capable of, scrumhalf Hall Charlton admits there will have to be a significant improvement in form if Newcastle are to pull clear of trouble.

“Even though we’ve won both of our last two games, we haven’t been at all happy with either of the performances,”

said Charlton, who is battling with Young and James Grindal for a regular starting spot at scrum-half.

“Mistakes are always going to happen at some point, but it’s about achieving a level of consistency where each individual works to ensure that those errors are kept to an absolute minimum.

“We still have some way to go in achieving that, but if we can just get through our phases of play when we have possession then that’s half the battle won in terms of building scores.

“The wins over Parma have given us a bit of confidence, like any victory would do, but at the same time everyone is also aware that there are still big improvements to be made in terms of our overall performance.”

Today’s game pits Newcastle against one of their former stars, Leicester fly-half Toby Flood.

Former Northumbria University student Flood left Kingston Park in the summer, and Charlton expects him to pose a considerable threat to his former employers this afternoon.

“We all know what a good player Toby is, and hopefully he’ll be starting the game because the lads are looking forward to coming up against him,” he said.

“He’s gone well for Leicester from the games we’ve seen, he’s kept his place in the England squad and a lot of the boys would love to get a run against him.

“The same goes for Ben Woods (another former Falcon).

He’s another great lad and a good player, although unfortunately I think he’s injured for this match.”

FALCONS: May, Visser, Davey, Tu’ipulotu, Rudd, Miller, Charlton; Golding, Thompson, D Wilson, Swinson, Sorenson, Williamson, B Wilson, Dowson. Replacements: Vickers, Ward, Perry, Parling, Grindal, Dillon, Jones.