Team news: Falcons side to face Dragons
Newcastle Falcons welcome Connor Doherty and Sam Stuart into their team for Sunday’s EPCR Challenge Cup game at home to Welsh side, Dragons.
Centre Doherty (pictured) and scrum-half Stuart both slot into the side as the Falcons set out in search of their fifth consecutive home win in all competitions, having beaten Exeter Chiefs, Doncaster Knights, Sale Sharks and Saracens.
Newcastle opened their European account with a 32-19 loss at French club Pau last weekend, with director of rugby Steve Diamond keen for his side to kick-start their campaign in a tournament which sees four of the six teams in their group going through to the round of 16.
“The Dragons got a bonus point last weekend against Montpellier and they’re not a bad side, so we’ll have to be on the ball to win it,” said Diamond.
“The URC is a good competition and we’ll respect them as a team. They’ve got a good forward pack, they move the ball around a lot and they’ve got some good experience in their squad, so it’ll be a good test.
“We said from day one that we want to take this competition seriously, and having won our last four games at home it’s also important that we preserve that record and keep the momentum building going into the Bath game next weekend.
“Just like any club we’re juggling a lot of injuries and having to dip into our squad, but it’s the same for every team and I’m confident we’re putting out a side which can get the job done.”
Looking back to last weekend’s near miss in south-west France which saw Pau denying them a bonus point at the death, the Falcons boss said: “We let ourselves down a little bit and we should have won the game. We’ve come a long way over the last three months but we had a couple of opportunities to score in the last few minutes, and didn’t take them.
“Having had a day or two to study the footage and think about it, we’ve been quite stern with the players. If we’re going to be the good team that we always talk about, then we’ve got to put those chances away. Last Sunday was a really good opportunity to do that and continue to build our confidence with another win, but we didn’t do it.”
Asked about the final passage of the game which saw the referee asking the TMO to look at a potential penalty in the build-up to Pau’s decisive try, which the host broadcaster could not find, Diamond was at pains to avoid making any excuses.
“I thought the officials were pretty good on the day, to be fair to them, and they can’t legislate for a French TV production company losing the footage,” he said.
“It was a bit of a David Copperfield magic trick maybe, but I was more concerned about the opportunity two minutes before where we had a three-on-two but failed to make the pass for what would have been a run-in and a conversion to win the game.
“The referee seemed like he’d seen the incident at the end where Pau made a high tackle, but he needed some back-up from the TV pictures, and they couldn’t be found. These things happen and it would be easy to sit here and use it as an excuse, but that’s not the reason we lost the game. We were poor in the first half, and even though we improved later on we didn’t take all our chances.
“On the positive side I thought our attitude was outstanding yet again, we scrambled well, mauled well and our bench made a difference when they came on. A few of the players put their hands up for selection, and I’m looking forward to Sunday’s game now against the Dragons.”
Sunday’s game IS included on the 2024-25 season ticket.
Non-season ticket holders can buy tickets by clicking here.
Newcastle Falcons team v Dragons (Sunday, 3.15pm, Kingston Park, EPRC TV)
15 Ben Redshaw, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Alex Hearle, 12 Connor Doherty, 11 Ben Stevenson, 10 Kieran Wilkinson, 9 Sam Stuart; 1 Murray McCallum, 2 Ollie Fletcher, 3 Richard Palframan, 4 Sebastian de Chaves, 5 Kiran McDonald, 6 Freddie Lockwood, 7 Tom Gordon, 8 Callum Chick (captain).
Replacements: 16 Bryan Byrne, 17 Micky Rewcastle, 18 Callum Hancock, 19 Finn Baker, 20 Ollie Leatherbarrow, 21 Hugh O’Sullivan, 22 Brett Connon, 23 Oli Spencer.
Not available for selection: Sammy Arnold, Eduardo Bello, Adam Brocklebank, Tim Cardall, Luan de Bruin, Ben Douglas, Ethan Grayson, John Hawkins, John Kelly, Cameron Neild, Elliott Obatoyinbo, Jacob Oliver, Pedro Rubiolo, Adam Scott, Philip van der Walt.
Dragons: 15 Huw Anderson, 14 Ewan Rosser, 13 Joe Westwood, 12 Aneurin Owen, 11 Oli Andrew, 10 Angus O’Brien (captain), 9 Che Hope; 1 Rodrigo Martinez, 2 Brodie Coghlan, 3 Chris Coleman, 4 Steve Cummins, 5 George Nott, 6 Ryan Woodman, 7 Dan Lydiate, 8 Aaron Wainwright.
Replacements: 16 Oli Burrows, 17 Josh Reynolds, 18 Paula Latu, 19 Nick Thomas, 20 Evan Minto, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Cai Evans, 23 Harry Wilson.
Referee: Federico Vedovelli (Italy).