Skipper is back for big Bordeaux test
NEWCASTLE Falcons’ captain Will Welch returns for today’s trip to Bordeaux-Begles as the two unbeaten teams in European Challenge Cup Pool One meet at Stade Chaban-Delmas.
Welch comes in as one of six changes from the side which defeated Welsh side Dragons 32-27 in last weekend’s opener, the flanker replacing Mark Wilson on the blindside.
Calum Green comes in for Will Witty at lock in a team which sees Scottish duo Scott Lawson and Jon Welsh added to the front row, director of rugby Dean Richards reshuffling his back line for the 6.30 local time kick-off (5.30 UK time).
The two personnel changes behind the scrum see Josh Matavesi and Chris Harris coming in for Joel Hodgson and Simon Hammersley – Matavesi starting at inside centre as Toby Flood shifts across to fly-half and Harris coming in on the wing as Alex Tait drops to full-back.
Scrum-half Michael Young could be set for a first outing of the season after returning from injury to take up a place on the bench.
Richards said: “Bordeaux are a quality side.
“They thumped Enisei in Siberia last weekend, they have gone well in the Top 14 this season and from our perspective it is going to be a hard game.
“The French sides spend a lot of money and they all have quality squads these days.
“Bordeaux will certainly be a difficult side to turn over.
“They are a team who start well and they put most of their points on the board early, so there is a big emphasis on making sure we come out firing. We cannot sit back and wait for them to hit us, we have to be aggressive in that sense but it is the kind of barrage we face every week in the Aviva Premiership.”
Placed fourth in the Premiership after a strong start, the Falcons began their European campaign with a five-pointer last weekend and are determined to attack a competition which will see its final being held in Newcastle in 2019.
Richards added: “Our away form has been better this season and we are improving as a team.
“An old coach once told me rugby is 51% defence and 49% attack and we have been defending more effectively this season in terms of closing out tight games.
“Our attack is functioning fairly well too and we are looking forward to what should be a good game over there.
“You only have to look at the quality of the sides we are fielding to see how we are approaching the European Challenge Cup this year.
“Last season or the year before we would not have been able to put out a side as strong as this week and last week and that improved quality and depth means we can be far more competitive on multiple fronts.
“We are going into this tournament with a viewpoint to proceed as far as we can and we believe we can be far more competitive this time round.
“We are by no means getting ahead of ourselves because we know we have to win this weekend - or certainly come away with something.
“Bordeaux getting the five points in Russia means we cannot leave France empty-handed and if we do then it is going to be difficult for us.
“We want to make progress but we are not looking beyond Bordeaux because we know it will be a significant contest in terms of how the group pans out.”
Offering qualified praise of last weekend’s 32-27 victory, the Falcons’ boss added: “We sat down as a squad after the Dragons game and we were quite disappointed with our accuracy on the day.
“Yet, having said that, we still scored four tries playing at about 65% of our capability.
“You cannot be doing too badly if you are still producing the result when you are not playing that well but we know there is room for improvement and we are working hard to bring that out on the field.
“By our own admission we took our foot off the gas a bit last weekend and we cannot be that complacent again against Bordeaux.”