Coach sees no reason to change
IT IS SAME AGAIN FOR THE TRIP TO WASPS
NEWCASTLE Falcons name an unchanged side for the third game in a row as they prepare for this afternoon’s Gallagher Premiership trip to last season’s beaten finalists Wasps.
The 3.00 kick-off at the Ricoh Arena sees the same starting XV which defeated Sale Sharks 15-13 at home last Friday, having won 19-12 at Bath on the opening weekend – Newcastle becoming the first promoted team since 2005 to triumph in their opening two fixtures.
The only two changes to their match-day 23 are both on the bench, where there is a potential debut for former South Africa scrum-half Louis Schreuder - recently arrived from Super Rugby side the Sharks – who is joined among the replacements by fitagain centre George Wacokecoke.
Head coach Dave Walder, a Premiership and European title winner with Wasps during his playing days, said: “Wasps were probably one disputed penalty try call away from being the Premiership champions so we know it is going to be tough down there.
“Lee Blackett has done a brilliant job and they created a huge momentum during the restart.
“They play a great brand of rugby from a spectator point of view and having sneaked under the radar for the first two weeks we know we ae not the surprise package anymore.”
Walder added: “People write us off every year, so it is nothing new and we don’t pay too much attention to it. It is just part of being at Newcastle Falcons.
“We are up in the North East and we have to do certain things differently for all manner of reasons but that is the way it is and we just quietly get on with it.
“Our focus is entirely on getting our processes right and putting things into place on game day, so we are not too worried about people talking us up or down.
“There will be guys within the group who enjoy that underdog tag and maybe others who have joined us from clubs where they are expected to win trophies on a regular basis - and they embrace that expectation.
“Everyone is different and they all have their own ways of making sure they turn up on game day with the right preparation and motivation to give their best performance.”
Having tackled an unconventional off-season with more than eight and a half months between competitive games, Walder explained: “The uncertainty around not knowing whether or not we were going to be promoted was the most frustrating thing initially and then not knowing when this season was going to start - but you have to keep things in perspective.
“People have been dying, losing their jobs or experiencing all sorts of serious health and economic problems, so we have to be grateful we are still doing what we love.
“We had two really good pre-season hit-outs at Ealing which got us to where we needed to be and we have kicked on from there.”
Newcastle Falcons team to face Wasps (3.00, Ricoh Arena, live on BT Sport 5 Extra, red button): 15 Tom Penny, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Luther Burrell, 12 Toby Flood, 11 Ben Stevenson, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Michael Young (captain), 1 Trevor Davison, 2 George McGuigan, 3 Logovi’i Mulipola, 4 Greg Peterson, 5 Marco Fuser, 6 Sean Robinson, 7 Connor Collett, 8 Gary Graham. Replacements: 16 Jamie Blamire, 17 Adam Brocklebank, 18 Mark Tampin, 19 Darren Barry, 20 Josh Basham, 21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Joel Hodgson, 23 George Wacokecoke.