Witty returns for visit of the Quins
NEWCASTLE Falcons welcome back fit-again lock-forward Will Witty as they prepare for this afternoon’s Gallagher Premiership visit of Harlequins.
The 3.00 kick-off at Kingston Park Stadium sees the Yorkshireman playing his first game since the Heineken Champions Cup victory over Montpellier on October 21 as Newcastle look to start the calendar year on a high after taking losing bonus points from their last two outings.
A head-knock for Toby Flood sees Brett Connon starting at fly-half, the 22-year-old having impressed in his recent Heineken Champions Cup start at Edinburgh, while a head knock also rules out flanker John Hardie.
Trevor Davison and Kyle Cooper both come into the front row after featuring from the bench last weekend - Tom Arscott starting on the wing in the only other change to the side which took a losing bonus point on Sunday at Bristol.
Director of rugby Dean Richards said: “As I said immediately after the game we missed a lot of chances, and going back through the footage has only reinforced that impression.
“I would be more upset if we were not creating the opportunities to begin with but we are.
“It is a case of taking the chances out there for us.
“It will slot into place and we do feel as if results are there for us if we can just take that next step.”
Keen to put right the defeat an injury-ravaged Falcons suffered at Quins in November, Richards added: “Our away game at Harlequins was an incredibly frustrating night whereby one disaster led to another, what with Johnny Williams going down injured in the warm-up, having to reshuffle the back line at short notice and then losing Joel Hodgson to a broken leg in the first few minutes.
“Saturday is a totally different thing, our game down there has been put to bed and we will run out this weekend in a different frame of mind.”
Acknowledging the threat posed by a Harlequins side coached by one of his former Leicester charges, Paul Gustard, Richards said: “Quins are starting to play decent rugby and from our own side we are creating a lot of opportunities, so if we carry on doing that it should be a great game to watch.
“Discipline is key and we are not going to throw stones about it because we have been guilty ourselves at times. We have improved massively in that area since the first six games of the season but you have to stay constantly on top of it and we will be doing so again on Saturday.”
Tickets for today’s game are available by calling 0871 226 6060. NEWCASTLE FALCONS TEAM TO FACE HARLEQUINS (SATURDAY, 3.00, KINGSTON PARK STADIUM): 15 Simon Hammersley, 14 Vereniki Goneva, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Josh Matavesi, 11 Tom Arscott, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Michael Young, 1 Trevor Davison, 2 Kyle Cooper, 3 Logovi’i Mulipola, 4 Calum Green, 5 Will Witty, 6 Will Welch (captain), 7 Gary Graham, 8 Callum Chick.
Replacements: 16 Santiago Socino, 17 Adam Brocklebank, 18 David Wilson, 19 Andrew Davidson, 20 Ryan Burrows, 21 Sonatane Takulua, 22 Tim Swiel, 23 Pedro Bettencourt.
Referee: Tom Foley.