WITH a home quarter-final against Heineken Cup opposition to play for, Newcastle Falcons fly-half Jimmy Gopperth has warned against complacency ahead of this evening’s final Amlin Challenge Cup group game with Petrarca Padova.

A victory for Newcastle will guarantee a place in the last eight, with a bonus-point win meaning a home tie that would almost certainly be against one of the three sides dropping into the competition from the Heineken Cup.

Falcons start as favourites at Kingston Park, having thrashed their opponents 50-5 on Tyneside in the 2006-07 season and won 29-27 in Italy last October.

However, Gopperth is taking nothing for granted in the wake of last weekend’s dramatic last-gasp victory over Albi.

“The goal is to get one of the real Heineken Cup giants back to Kingston Park in the quarter-finals, which would be massive for the club and our supporters,” said the New Zealander, whose last-ditch conversion in Albi left Falcons with one foot in the quarter- finals.

“The players would relish that opportunity, but we can’t look beyond Petrarca Padova because there is a job still to be done here.

“It’s in our own hands, so from a team point of view we don’t have a huge amount of stats or permutations complicating things.

“Basically, if we win the game we’re through to the quarter-finals, and if we get a bonus point win we definitely have a home tie.

“It’s all on us, we’re not relying on anybody else and we have to put a bit of pressure on ourselves now to deliver.

As long as everyone turns up and continues to take pride in their performance, we’ll back ourselves to beat anybody.

“There might be an urge to try and score off first-phase ball every time we get it and to start playing helter-skelter rugby, but what we need to do is just build the pressure, be patient, keep the ball and gradually break them down.”

Tonight’s game pits the two leading points scorers from this season’s Challenge Cup against each other.

Gopperth tops the scoring charts with 56 points from five matches, with Padova fly-half Ludovic Mercier standing second with 45.

Falcons director of rugby Steve Bates has made five changes to the side that won in France last weekend.

Skipper Carl Hayman replaces Matt Thompson at tight-head, with Micky Ward taking the place of the injured Laurence Ovens at the opposite side of the scrum.

Rob Miller deputises for Tane Tu’ipulotu at inside centre, Rob Vickerman returns at centre and Charlie Amesbury is restored on the left wing.

“We saw in Padova back in October what a capable side they are, and we had to fight for every single minute to come away with a win,” said Bates.

“They are a very robust forward unit, with an exceptional kicker at fly-half.

FALCONS (vs Albi): Tait, Williams, Vickerman, Miller, Amesbury, Gopperth, Young; Ward, Vickers, Hayman, Hudson, Sorenson, Afu, Wilson, Levi. Replacements: Walker, Shiells, Thompson, Balding, Williamson, Browne, Pilgrim, Bobo.