NEWCASTLE skipper Phil Dowson has been left out of the team for tomorrow's Guinness Premiership trip to Leicester Tigers.

After making his comeback from injury in the recent European ties, Dowson has to settle for a place on the bench along with fellow back row man Geoff Parling.

South African Russell Winter is at No 8 with Brent Wilson at blind side, while James Grindal is preferred to Lee Dickson at scrum half.

Grindal was this week called up to join Dickson, Dowson, open side Ben Woods and prop David Wilson in the England Saxons squad for next Friday night's match against Ireland.

All Newcastle's big guns are back following last weekend's 15- try demolition of Spanish champions Cetransa El Salvador, and Director of Rugby John Fletcher said: "One thing you always get with Leicester is intensity.

"They will come hard at your set piece and incredibly hard at the tackle area. They need to stop teams from playing because of how they defend. If they do that it will be a long afternoon for us, but our focus is on getting the ball away from that breakdown area and playing our own game.

"I'm very confident that we can go down there and win. That's not me being crazy, it's just based on having worked with this group of players every single day and knowing what they're capable of. We need to win the ball, keep it, move it around and when we lose it work our nuts off to get it back."

Fletcher revealed that some of the players who appeared against El Salvador have been knocking on his door asking why they aren't playing at Leicester.

"The whole squad think they should be in the starting XV every week and rightly so," he said. "That's the attitude I want them to have. When guys don't play they get cheesed off, that's just the nature of sport, and it's up to me to deal with that."

Newcastle Falcons: Mathew Tait, Tom May, Jamie Noon (captain), Toby Flood, John Rudd, Jonny Wilkinson, James Grindal, Jon Golding, Andy Long, Carl Hayman, Andy Perry, Mark Sorenson, Brent Wilson, Ben Woods, Russell Winter.

Newcastle's coaching and technical director, Steve Bates, is taking charge of the Saxons team during its two-match schedule, which also involves a trip to play Italy A in Sicily on Saturday, February 9.

He said: "This is a tremendously exciting squad. We aim to win by playing a dynamic style of rugby that gives the players a chance to stake a claim for the senior side."

The team to play Ireland A will be announced on Wednesday.