Rugby
Falcons Test Weekend
16 August 2007
Newcastle Falcons face action on three fronts this weekend, with matches on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The first team hosts National Division One side Doncaster Knights on Sunday at Kingston Park (3pm), while the Development Team travels to Jedforest on Friday night (7.30pm) and the Sevens team takes part in the Middlesex Sevens at Twickenham on Saturday.
For the main first team match on Sunday director of rugby John Fletcher gets a long-awaited look at James Grindal in the fly half berth, switching from his usual position of scrum half in the absence of Toby Flood who returned from the England squad this week.
“I’ve been wanting to play James at fly half for some time as I believe he has the right skill set to make a success of it,” said Fletcher.
“He has been training well there, but it’s one thing doing it in training, we need to throw him in to the match environment and see how he goes. His role as a scrum half remains vital to the squad, but it might be the case that during the international windows we need him to step in and do a job at ten.”
Explaining the absence of Flood from the Falcons side, Fletcher said: “Toby got the bad news from England late on Sunday, and when I arrived at Kingston Park on Monday morning at 8.30am he was already out on the field putting in some extra work.
“That’s just the type of character he is, and when we chatted at that point he was very much of the mindset that he wanted to play on Sunday. He trained with us Monday and Tuesday, but having spoken to him towards the middle of the week we decided it would be best for him to take a short holiday for a few days and clear his head.
“He will be back in full training next week and ready to take a prominent role in the remainder of our pre-season. You have to remember it’s a lot for a young lad to take in, being so close to a World Cup squad but just not making it, so with a few days away from rugby he will come back refreshed and ready to go.”
Asked whether the performance or the result was of utmost importance on Sunday, Fletcher said: “We want to win the game, and to get the confidence that comes from victory as we instill a winning mentality throughout the club.
“Doncaster are a full-time side with a very big pack which was close to promotion to the Premiership last season, so we know it will be a tough game and a good test for us in our first pre-season outing.”
Falcons team to face Doncaster (Sunday, 3pm, Kingston Park):
15 Matthew Burke, 14 Tom May, 13 James Hoyle, 12 Joe Shaw, 11 John Rudd, 10 James Grindal, 9 Hall Charlton, 1 Jon Golding, 2 Andy Long, 3 Micky Ward, 4 Andy Perry, 5 Mark Sorenson, 6 Brent Wilson, 7 Ben Woods, 8 Phil Dowson (captain).
Replacements: Joe McDonnell, Matt Thompson, Andy Buist, AN Other (TBC after Friday’s game), Steve Jones, Mark Mayerhofler.
Falcons Development XV to face Jedforest (Friday 7.30pm, Riverside Park, Jedburgh):
15 Gavin Beasley, 14 Jack Harrison, 13 Tom Dillon, 12 Alex Tait, 11 Ben Mercer, 10 Steve Jones, 9 Ross Samson, 1 Robbie Kalbraier, 2 Rob Vickers, 3 David Wilson, 4 Jason Oakes, 5 Stuart Walker, 6 Geoff Parling (captain), 7 Phil Dawson, 8 Peter Browne.
Replacements: Rupert Harden, Oliver Tomazszcyk, Joe Clark, Tim Swinson, Greg Irvin, Dom Shaw, Rob McDermott.
Newcastle Falcons Middlesex Sevens squad (Saturday, Twickenham):
1 Tim Visser, 2 Scott Riddell, 3 Paddy Dias, 4 Lee Dickson, 5 Luke Fielden, 6 Adam Dehaty, 7 Ollie Phillips (captain), 8 Ross Batty, 9 Micky Young, 10 Jack Smales, 11 Sep Visser.
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