Rugby
Falcons Team for Spain
17 January 2008
Newcastle Falcons have made eight changes and two positional switches for Sunday’s decisive European Challenge Cup visit of Spanish champions Cetransa El Salvador to Kingston Park (kick-off 3pm).
England centre Jamie Noon returns to make his 200th start for the club, having missed the last two matches for family reasons.
Director of rugby John Fletcher’s side are gunning for a home quarter-final, and will field a strong side on the day as they aim for a repeat showing of their 71-10 victory from when the two sides met in Valladolid back in November.
Club captain Phil Dowson returns to lead the side from No.8, while Geoff Parling replaces Andy Perry at second row, Micky Ward starts for Carl Hayman at tight head prop and Matt Thompson takes the place of Andy Long at hooker.
In the backs Mathew Tait drops to fullback, and with Jonny Wilkinson rested Toby Flood moves across to fly half as Steve Jones occupies the No.12 shirt and Ollie Phillips is given a start on the right wing.
The only other change to the team which won 19-12 in Brive last weekend comes at scrum half, as England Saxon Lee Dickson replaces James Grindal.
With home advantage in the last eight of the European Challenge being the ultimate goal from Sunday’s encounter, Fletcher said: “We did well last week out in Brive, we’re top of the group now and we just need to make sure we finish the job off this Sunday to secure a home quarter-final.
"We have to stay nice and focused, do what we need to do and I’m sure we will."
"On paper people could say there is a huge difference between the two teams, but I’ve never really been one to buy in to that."
"The weather will play a part, with a soft and very wet pitch forecast, and that is always a bit of a leveller. We’re taking nothing for granted, and we know that we need to be mentally switched-on to get the desired result."
Having racked up eleven tries in Spain earlier in the season, Fletcher insisted that his side’s mindset going in to the game remained the same as usual, stating: "We won’t publicly set a target of scoring a certain number of points, because that would be disrespectful to the opposition."
"Our approach is just as it would be every single week, firstly to win the game, secondly to get a four-try bonus point and thirdly to score as many tries as we can – in that order."
"We’re in the fortunate position of knowing exactly what we need to do after the Castres v Leeds game on Thursday, so I will speak to the players on Friday and outline the situation, but other than that we’re not preparing any differently than we would do for a Guinness Premiership match."
With Cetransa El Salvador still winless, and having struggled in all five of their matches so far, Fletcher stated his belief that their participation in the European Challenge Cup is fully merited, as rugby looks to the bigger picture.
"We, as the so-called major rugby playing nations, have a duty to develop the game throughout Europe," he said.
"I firmly believe that, and one of the strengths of the European Challenge Cup is taking the game beyond the traditional boundaries. The main part of developing players and teams is getting them regular competition at a high standard, and that is certainly something that happens in this tournament. "
"In the long run it is a very good thing for European rugby to include teams from nations like Spain and Romania, and even though some of the scorelines have been pretty big this season there are definite long term benefits to the game by persevering with it."
Having chosen to make a number of changes to his team, Fletcher explained his selection, stating: "It’s still a very strong side, and I don’t think there’s a lot between this and what you might call our full first XV, not that I would use that terminology myself."
"One or two guys need a rest because they are carrying some bumps and bruises, but then turning it on its head there are also one or two who need a game at this level because their performances for the Development Team have fully merited them being called up to the senior side."
"We are currently second in the Guinness A League having beaten Leicester comfortably on Monday, and quite rightly a lot of those guys are knocking on my door for first team selection. As we enter the Six Nations a few more of those players will come back in to the reckoning, and this fixture allows us the chance to do that."
"None of the players want a rest, they’re all keen to play and when I told a few of them they were being stood down for this match they’ve all been hammering on the door to my office insisting they want to play. "
"That’s a great attitude to have, and they’re aware of the competition for places in the squad. They are nervous that if people are given an opportunity then they will take it, but that’s all part of managing a sporting team, dealing with those sorts of scenarios."
With Kiwi lock Mark Sorenson starting the game, as he has done every single week, Fletcher added: "Yes Mark has played every minute of every game for us this season, but if you speak to your average man in the street then I think they would all agree that 80 minutes once a week is not really a huge amount of work. And to be fair to Mark, like every single player, he is dead keen to play every week."
"I don’t buy in to player burn-out, and all that sort of nonsense. These guys are well-conditioned, we look after them in training and manage their work load sympathetically every day. "
"We are very player-orientated, and when you get people complaining about guys playing 80 minutes every weekend I think they sometimes need to take a look at the real world and keep it in perspective, when Joe Public is working 12-hour shifts five or six days a week on building sites and in factories."
Tickets for Sunday’s game are still available by calling 0871 226 60 60, visiting the club website or popping to Kingston Park during office hours and match-day itself.
Newcastle Falcons team to face Cetransa El Salvador:
- 15 Mathew Tait
- 14 Ollie Phillips
- 13 Jamie Noon
- 12 Steve Jones
- 11 Tim Visser
- 10 Toby Flood
- 9 Lee Dickson
- 1 Joe McDonnell
- 2 Matt Thompson
- 3 Micky Ward
- 4 Geoff Parling
- 5 Mark Sorenson
- 6 Brent Wilson
- 7 Ben Woods
- 8 Phil Dowson (captain)
Replacements:
- 16 Rob Vickers
- 17 David Wilson
- 18 Sean Tomes
- 19 Russell Winter
- 20 Hall Charlton
- 21 Alex Tait
- 22 Joe Shaw
Not considered due to injury: Matthew Burke (knee), James Hoyle (hip), Andy Buist (shoulder).
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