Rugby
Six Pack Change for Falcons
24 October 2007
Newcastle Falcons have made six changes to their side ahead of Sunday’s Guinness Premiership clash against Bath at Kingston Park (kick-off 2pm).
Four of the six come in the pack where a new front row of Jon Golding, Matt Thompson and Micky Ward replaces last week’s combination of Joe McDonnell, Andy Long and David Wilson, who all lie in wait on the bench.
Andy Perry takes the place of Jason Oakes at lock in the only other change to the pack, while at scrum half Lee Dickson replaces James Grindal and Dutchman Tim Visser comes in at outside centre in place of Adam Dehaty.
The Falcons will be aiming to keep their proud home run going against a Bath side who are the only club to have beaten Newcastle at Kingston Park in the past 50 weeks.
Explaining the six changes to his side, director of rugby John Fletcher said: “A couple of the selections are horses for courses and would have been made anyway because we’re playing Bath this weekend, but then a number are due to the form that players are showing us every week from the bench.
“One of those would be Jon Golding coming in at loose head prop after some outstanding showings as a replacement, so he deservedly gets the start this time round.
“I went to The Rec to watch Bath last weekend against Harlequins and they scrummaged well, so Micky Ward comes back after two weeks out to try and combat that threat with his play in the tight. Micky was unhappy at not being selected for the last two games, he’s been hammering my door down for the past fortnight and that’s the sort of passion that I want to see from players. It shows what it means to him to represent this team, and he will have a huge burning ambition to make a mark in his return to the starting XV.
“It’s by no means a reflection on Davey Wilson’s performance last weekend because I thought he was particularly outstanding with a huge tackle count and a large number of carries, but he will come on from the bench at some point with Andy Long and hopefully we will be in a winning position when that happens.
“At scrum half the way Lee Dickson plays the game suits us this weekend against the type of side that Bath are, while in the centres we had a tough call to make in selecting Tim Visser in place of Adam Dehaty.”
Explaining the decision to start Dutchman Visser, he added: “Adam has been one of our best players over the past few weeks and I thought he had an excellent game down at Bristol, so he retains his place in the 22 on merit but drops to the bench just because we feel what Tim offers us will be more relevant this Sunday.
“There’s no denying it is a bit of a risk chucking Tim in at outside centre with relatively little senior experience there, but he is a big talented kid at 17 stone and only 20 years old who makes things happen. He takes some serious stopping when he gets that glint in his eye and spots an attacking opportunity, he can do things that other players can’t, and I look forward to watching him this weekend.”
With his squad being tested to the limits due to events in France and also the rigours of Guinness Premiership injury, Fletcher said: “Not only have we lost the England four, but injury also means we’re without our captain Phil Dowson, our England Saxons flanker Ben Woods, an ex-All Black in Mark Mayerhofler and one of our best prospects in Andy Buist.
“That’s almost half our first choice team because these guys are all big, big players for us, but that’s the nature of the game these days and it’s just a case of getting on with it without whingeing.”
Looking forward to what he believes will be an enormous physical tussle, he added: “Bath will be coming up here to get in to our forwards, but our pack is massively up for the challenge and is revved up big time for a massive confrontation.
“Bath have by far the best record of any side at Kingston Park in recent years, they are the only team to have won here inside the last year and this will be a huge battle undoubtedly.
“They are a good side playing some okay rugby, and under Steve Meehan you can see the Aussie influence with the way they play pretty flat and certain other aspects of their approach. In the past people have probably said Bath are just a big heavy pack. Yes, they do have that up their sleeve, but they also like to move the ball and we’re not going in to this weekend with a stereotype view of them.”
Tickets for Sunday’s game are still available by calling 0871 226 60 60, or from the Kingston Park box office for match-day cash sales.
Newcastle Falcons team to face Bath:
15 Matthew Burke (captain)
14 Tom May
13 Tim Visser
12 Joe Shaw
11 John Rudd
10 Steve Jones
9 Lee Dickson
1 Jon Golding
2 Matt Thompson
3 Micky Ward
4 Andy Perry
5 Mark Sorenson
6 Geoff Parling
7 Brent Wilson
8 Russell Winter
Replacements:
16 Andy Long
17 Joe McDonnell
18 David Wilson
19 Jason Oakes
20 Eni Gesinde
21 James Grindal
22 Adam Dehaty
Not considered due to injury: Andy Buist (shoulder), Ben Woods (hand), Ross Beattie (shoulder), Phil Dowson (shoulder), Tom Dillon (collar bone), Jamie Noon (knee), James Hoyle (hip), Mark Mayerhofler (shoulder).
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