News

Preview: Worcester v Newcastle

Friday 09th May 2008

Mixing it up: Bates makes several changes to the Newcastle team

Newcastle will be captained by Ross Beatie in their final Guinness Premiership game of the season as they head to Sixways to take on Worcester.

Acting Director of Rugby Steve Bates will wait on late fitness tests on the Tait brothers Mathew (hip) and Alex (head), but in what is his side's third game in just seven days he has chosen to bring in a number of fresh bodies.

Scrum half Lee Dickson and flanker Ben Woods both make their final appearance in Newcastle colours before their respective summer transfers, while former Scotland back row Ross Beattie returns at number eight after starring in last Sunday's victory over champions Leicester Tigers.

On the bench there is a return for fit-again All Black prop Joe McDonnell after a recent arm injury, while England Students flanker Peter Browne will be looking to make his second appearance for the club after his debut on Wednesday against London Wasps.

"We've had two games in under four days, Saturday will make it three in less than seven days, and there's no denying that the boys are extremely tired," Bates said.

"We've cut right back on the work load this week in training, we've done a walk-through on Thursday and we travel all day Friday, but the effort from the boys who will end up playing two or even all of those three games has been absolutely heroic."

Worcester will bid farewell to Tony Windo, Shane Drahm, Drew Hickey and Thinus Delport on Saturday, and all four are named in their squad.

Windo, Drahm and Delport all start whilst Hickey has to settle for a place on the bench. Windo is retiring at the end of the season whilst Delport, Drahm and Hickey are all heading for Japan.

Director of Rugby Mike Ruddock has urged his Warriors to finish the season with a bang knowing a victory could take his side above Newcastle in the league table.

"It has been a long and tough season for us. People tell me it is a battle in this league to get through the season and they have been proven right," he said.

"But we've steadily improved and the second half of the campaign has been rewarding. Now we want to finish off in style for our own fans and give them a real show before the final.

"Our recent victory over Newcastle in the European Challenge Cup will give us confidence. But we watched the Falcons against Leicester Tigers recently and they played a different style."

Form: Worcester Warriors have won back to back games against Newcastle (in the European Challenge Cup) and Bristol (in the Guinness Premiership). Worcester have also won three of their last four games at Sixways in all competitions. Newcastle have lost their last seven away games in all competitions since a 19-12 victory in Brive on 11 January. The last six encounters between the two teams have gone the way of the home side on the day. Newcastle visited Sixways two weeks ago in the semi-final of the European Challenge Cup, losing 16-31, whilst the Falcons last win in Worcester was 30-9 in the Premiership on 5 September 2004.

The Teams:

Worcester: 15 Thinus Delport, 14 Marcel Garvey, 13 Rico Gear, 12 Dale Rasmussen, 11 Miles Benjamin, 10 Shane Drahm, 9 Matt Powell, 8 Kai Horstmann, 7 Pat Sanderson (c), 6 Netani Talei, 5 Craig Gillies, 4 Greg Rawlinson, 3 Chris Horsman, 2 Aleki Lutui, 1 Tony Windo.
Replacements: 16 Tevita Taumoepeau, 17 Matt Mullan, 18 Will Bowley, 19 Drew Hickey, 20 Joe Carlisle, 21 Jonny Arr, 22 Chris Pennell.

Newcastle: 15 Alex Tait, 14 Ollie Phillips, 13 Mathew Tait, 12 Tim Visser, 11 John Rudd, 10 Steve Jones, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Ross Beattie (c), 7 Ed Williamson, 6 Ben Woods, 5 Mark Sorenson, 4 Andy Perry, 3 David Wilson, 2 Rob Vickers, 1 Jon Golding.
Replacements: 16 Ross Batty, 17 Joe McDonnell, 18 Tim Swinson, 19 Peter Browne, 20 Brent Wilson, 21 James Grindal, 22 Rob Miller.

Date: Saturday 10 May, 2008
Kick-off: 15:00 BST (14:00 GMT)
Venue: Sixways Stadium
Referee: Dean Richards
Touch judges: Roger Baileff, Andrew Pearce
Assessor: Brian Leigh
Television match official: Matt Peters