Rugby
Falcons to Eat the Sharks!!
13 September 2007
Newcastle Falcons welcome a pair of double centurions to their side this weekend, as they host Sale Sharks in Sunday’s Guinness Premiership opener (kick-off 3pm).
Micky Ward makes his 200th competitive appearance for the club as he packs down at tight head prop, while winger Tom May starts his 200th game in Falcons colours.
They form part of a side captained by new club skipper Phil Dowson, who helped England Saxons to Churchill Cup glory over the summer.
Also included is fly half Toby Flood, with director of rugby John Fletcher benefiting from England’s decision not to call up the 22-year-old playmaker despite injuries to the Rugby World Cup squad out in France.
“I am sympathetic to the England coach Brian Ashton, because he had to pick a squad of 30 on a certain day in August when Charlie Hodgson hadn’t proved his fitness, and when he had decided to take Jonny Wilkinson and Olly Barkley in preference to Toby Flood,” said Fletcher.
“It’s fairly obvious that both Charlie and Toby would be better options at fly half than Andy Farrell, but it’s a case of the competition rules forcing the situation to develop rather than anything else. What it does mean is that the supporters at Kingston Park on Sunday can see Flood and Hodgson going head to head in their club shirts, and I think most fans would agree that’s a pretty exciting prospect.”
With the big Guinness Premiership opener coming at the same time as the showpiece event in France, Fletcher said: “Maybe some teams have a bigger number of players away at the World Cup, but when you look at the quality of our four – Wilkinson, Hayman, Tait and Noon – it would be hard to argue that we haven’t been hit as hard as any other side in terms of their importance to our team.
“Having said that, it’s not an excuse. We believe fully in the guys who have come in to the side, and we have faith in them that they can get the job done.
“We have the bonus of Toby being here this week, and he is in a back line containing a World Cup winner in Matt Burke, an All Black in Mark Mayerhofler and they are surrounded by experienced Premiership players right throughout the backs division. Some of the younger guys like Adam Dehaty and Alex Tait are knocking on the door extremely hard with their performances in the Development Team and every day in training, so it’s not a negative situation by any means.”
Asked if he had faced any selection dilemmas in choosing his starting XV for Sunday, Fletcher joked: “I just asked our press officer, Mark Smith, who is currently beating me in the Rugby World Cup fantasy league. He’s top of our little competition here in the office, so he tells me who to pick and I just put them in the side!
“We believe we have picked what is our strongest team, although as I say I’m not doing very well in the fantasy league so maybe the press man should select the side every week. I’m near the bottom, but I would like to stress only because the rules weren’t properly explained to me!
“Obviously I would have won the competition if I’d known you could transfer players between games, because clearly I have a superior rugby knowledge. Our press man and our video guy John Stokoe have stitched me up. They must have too much time on their hands, and rest assured the issue will be raised in their appraisals!”
Returning to more serious matters and Sunday’s tussle with the Sharks, Fletcher said: “People have this perception that Sale are a running team, but we’ve been to watch them in pre-season against Samoa and they actually kick the ball a lot more than you might think.
“At times they will play and they have some dangerous runners, but we expect them to play a fair bit of territory and it should be an interesting 80 minutes.
“We’re just concentrating on us though. We know that if we turn up in a good frame of mind, if emotionally we are in the right place and if our decision makers play well then we will put ourselves in an excellent position.”
Tickets for Sunday’s game are still available in advance by calling 0871 226 60 60, or from the Kingston Park ticket office for match-day cash sales.
Newcastle Falcons team to face Sale Sharks:
- 15 Matthew Burke
- 14 Tom May
- 13 Mark Mayerhofler
- 12 Joe Shaw
- 11 John Rudd
- 10 Toby Flood
- 9 James Grindal
- 1 Joe McDonnell
- 2 Matt Thompson
- 3 Micky Ward
- 4 Andy Buist
- 5 Mark Sorenson
- 6 Geoff Parling
- 7 Ben Woods
- 8 Phil Dowson (captain)
Replacements:
- Andy Long
- David Wilson
- Andy Perry
- Brent Wilson
- Lee Dickson
- Steve Jones
- Ollie Phillips
Not considered due to injury: Russell Winter (neck), Ross Beattie (shoulder), Jason Oakes (knee).
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