MARK WILSON is hoping tomorrow’s game against Saracens will underline the progress Newcastle Falcons have made in the last 12 months.

Falcons host one of the Aviva Premiership’s title favourites at Kingston Park looking to spring a surprise in their final game of 2014.

Having staved off the threat of relegation in the first half of the year, Dean Richards’ side have taken some significant steps forward this season, and while their current position in the bottom three of the table might not be too remarkable, there is a sense of the club heading in the right direction.

Last weekend’s 15-7 defeat at Harlequins proved they can mix it with the best, but Wilson does not want to be content with merely being competitive against the leading teams in the league.

“We’ll be able to really tell where we’re at as a team (in the game against Saracens),” said Wilson. “After Quins, we were talking about line breaks and stuff like that, we’ve just to carry that on and show we can compete with these teams.

“We’re talking about being disappointed we didn’t win the game (against Harlequins). In previous years, people would just have said, ‘You’ve done well’. It’s happened a lot this year – Wasps, Leicester – but these games are winnable. For us, it’s disappointing, but we’re moving in the right direction.”

Falcons have made three changes to the side that lost at The Stoop, with the only backline alteration seeing Alex Tait replace Simon Hammersley at full-back.

In the pack, Scotland international Scott Lawson gets the nod at hooker, where he will pack down alongside Rob Vickers and Scott Wilson, while Kane Thompson replaces Dom Barrow in the second row and will partner Calum Green.

Newcastle Falcons: Tait, Sinoti, Powell, Socino, Tuilagi, Catterick, Blair; Vickers, Lawson, S Wilson, Green, Thompson, M Wilson, Welch, Hogg.

Replacements: McGuigan, Fry, Brookes, Furno, Saull, Tipuna, Harris, Penny.