Wilson given his head
NEWCASTLE Falcons' highly
promising England Saxons prop,
David Wilson, is to start at tight
head in tomorrow's home match
against London Irish, and 19-
year-old scrum half Micky
Young could make his debut.
Wilson, from South Shields,
was 23 this week and after representing
his country at every
level from under-16s, he is tipped
for top honours.
But he has had to play second
fiddle at Newcastle since the arrival
of All Black Carl Hayman,
who will be on the bench tomorrow.
Also among the replacements
is Young, a West Hartlepool
product who is in line for his senior
debut because Lee Dickson
has a hip injury and Hall Charlton
has an abdominal problem.
Both England centres are
missing as Toby Flood has joined
Jamie Noon in picking up an
ankle injury, so Steve Jones
comes in alongside Tom Dillon.
F l a n k e r
Ben Woods
is also ruled
out after
breaking a
hand in the
E u r o p e a n
C h a l l e n g e
Cup quart
e r - f i n a l
win over
Castres.
He is replaced
by
Brent Wilson,
while
Andy Long
returns at
hooker, with Matt Thompson
dropping to the bench.
Caretaker boss Steve Bates
said: "Toby just had a slight
ankle problem, which has been
bugging him all week. Both he
and Jamie were very close to
playing, but we felt it just wasn't
worth the risk.
"Carl Hayman has played pretty
much 80 minutes in every
game since he arrived in the autumn,
and in Davey Wilson we
have a ready-made replacement
who is extremely talented and
determined to get some game
time. Davey is right up there in
the pecking order for young English
props and it is only right
that he gets his chance."
Bates also expects big things
of Young, saying: "Apart from all
the standard qualities you would
expect from a scrum half at this
level, the biggest thing that
sticks out for me is that he is a
fantastic competitor and he has
that winning attitude ingrained
in him.
"Without wanting to put pressure
on the lad when he is still
so young, to me he has something
of the Gary Armstrong
about him. He has a real tough
streak in his make-up.
"He is developing very strongly.
He has good skills, he's very
strong and the next step for him
is just to get more game time. If
the situation is right then we
will look to introduce him in to
the game."
Newcastle Falcons: Mathew Tait, Tom May,
Tom Dillon, Steve Jones, John Rudd, Jonny
Wilkinson, James Grindal, Micky Ward, Andy
Long, David Wilson, Andy Perry, Mark Sorenson,
Andy Buist, Brent Wilson, Phil Dowson
(captain).
10:28am Saturday 12th April 2008
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