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Preview: Harlequins v Newcastle

Thursday 27th March 2008

Newcastle will face the in-form Harlequins on Saturday

Newcastle have made three changes to their side, as they make the Guinness Premiership trip to Harlequins on Saturday.

The only change to the pack is in the back row where Andy Buist comes in for Russell Winter, Buist slotting in at blindside flanker as captain Phil Dowson moves round to the number eight spot.

In the backs Hall Charlton replaces England Saxons scrum-half Lee Dickson who picked up a knock to the thigh against Leeds last Friday, while injury to Jamie Noon in the same game sees Ollie Phillips come on to the right wing.

Mathew Tait moves to outside centre and Tom May drops to full-back.

On the bench there is a return for the fit-again Geoff Parling after recent knee trouble, for a game which has already been confirmed as a sell-out at the Twickenham Stoop.

Coming in to Saturday's game on the back of conceding the fastest try in Premiership history at Leeds last week, interim Director of Rugby Steve Bates hinted that the same would not happen again.

"It was the worst start you could imagine to a game, and it's fair to say we've been practicing a lot of kick-off receipts this week," said Bates.

"The pleasing aspect was how well the boys rallied for the remaining 39 minutes of the half and put themselves in an excellent position to take the game."

"We are in a professional environment and this is a results-driven business, so however much the performance may have been an improvement on the Bristol game, we are acutely aware it's victories that matter," said Bates, having suffered defeat in both of his games at the helm.

Harlequins welcome back Nick Easter, who will start at blindside, although Will Skinner retains the captaincy.

They show three other changes to their starting side, James Percival, Tom Williams, and Ugo Monye all returning.

Form: Harlequins are the form team in the Guinness Premiership having picked up 23 league points from their last six encounters. At Twickenham Stoop Quins have won their last three matches overcoming Worcester, Gloucester and Bath. Newcastle Falcons have slipped to four straight defeats in the Guinness Premiership but have not lost five in a row in the competition since season 2002/03. Newcastle won 19-12 when the two sides met in the Premiership on 29 September, and the Falcons are in search of a first league double over Harlequins since season 1997/98.

The Teams:

Newcastle: 15 Tom May, 14 Ollie Phillips, 13 Mathew Tait, 12 Toby Flood, 11 John Rudd, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 9 Hall Charlton, 8 Phil Dowson (c), 7 Ben Woods, 6 Andy Buist, 5 Mark Sorenson, 4 Andy Perry, 3 Carl Hayman, 2 Rob Vickers, 1 Micky Ward
Replacements: 16 Matt Thompson, 17 Jon Golding, 18 Geoff Parling, 19 Brent Wilson, 20 Ed Williamson, 21 James Grindal, 22 Tim Visser

Harlequins: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Simon Keogh, 13 Ugo Monye, 12 Jordan Turner-Hall, 11 Tom Williams, 10 Adrian Jarvis, 9 Danny Care, 8 Tom Guest, 7 Will Skinner (c), 6 Nick Easter, 5 George Robson, 4 James Percival, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Tani Fuga, 1 Ceri Jones.
Replacements: 16 Gary Botha, 17 John Brooks, 18 Jim Evans, 19 Chris Hala'ufia, 20 Steven So'oialo, 21 Chris Malone, 22 De Wet Barry.

Date: Saturday, March 29
Venue: Twickenham Stoop
Kick-off: 15:00 GMT
Referee: Martin Fox
Touch judges: David Kurk, Paul Dickens
Coach: Clive Leeke
Television match official: Bob Ockenden