Levi in for Falcons; Sheridan for Sale
Newcastle Falcons have made three changes for Sunday's Guinness Premiership visit of Sale Sharks to Kingston Park.
A rejigged back row sees Samoan international Filipo Levi make his Guinness Premiership debut at No.8 after recovering from a foot injury, with Ed Williamson coming on to the blindside flank.
The only other change to the side from that which drew 9-9 at Leeds sees Charlie Amesbury start on the right wing, with a hamstring injury ruling out Danny Williams.
On the bench there is a return for centre Tane Tu’ipulotu after picking up a neck injury in the pre-season victory over Edinburgh, with All Black prop Carl Hayman once again captaining the Falcons side.
On the decision to name Tu'ipulotu among the replacements, Director of Rugby Steve Bates explained: "Tane is recovering well, but we will give him a fitness test on the day just to make absolutely sure he is ok to join the bench.
"If he doesn't come through that then we will go with Tom Catterick, and with Adam Balding also carrying a bit of a knock we have Peter Browne on standby for the bench should Adam not come through his fitness test.
"The only other real injury problem we picked up last weekend was Danny Williams who went off with a hamstring problem, but that one hopefully isn’t too serious and we have an able replacement in Charlie Amesbury to slot into that position on the right wing."
Having seen his side draw 9-9 at Leeds on opening day, Bates said: "Obviously we were a bit disappointed with some aspects from last weekend’s game, those have been addressed during the week and we hope to see the results of that work on Sunday.
"On the occasions where we got going I thought we looked dangerous, but those instances weren't regular enough and we know we need to create more opportunities. That’s the crux of the matter, and if we can do that this weekend against Sale then we’re backing ourselves to cause them some problems."
Sale meanwhile have been bolstered in the front row with the return of British Lions prop Andrew Sheridan. His clash with Carl Hayman should be especially entertaining!
The Sharks are looking to maintain their winning start to the season after upsetting defending champions at home last Friday.
Their is also a first start of the new season for former Falcon Mathew Tait - the England international will run at outside centre this weekend.
Director of Rugby Kingsley Jones is looking for a strong performance on Sunday. "
I told the players last week that the fact that everyone seems to have written us off because a few players have left was an insult to them. They showed against Leicester that we have some real quality in our side, and when it came down to it, I believe we won that game because we wanted it more.
"We have to be hungry again on Sunday against Newcastle. We have a lot of respect for them, particularly up front where I think that have the best pack in the Premiership. It will be a real battle and a real test of our character."
The teams:
Newcastle: 15 Alex Tait, 14 Charlie Amesbury, 13 Rob Vickerman, 12 Gcobani Bobo, 11 Tom Biggs, 10 Jimmy Gopperth, 9 Micky Young, 8 Filipo Levi, 7 Brent Wilson, 6 Ed Williamson, 5 Tim Swinson, 4 James Hudson, 3 Carl Hayman (captain), 2 Rob Vickers, 1 Jon Golding.
Replacements: 16 Matt Thompson, 17 Micky Ward, 18 Laurence Ovens, 19 Mark Sorenson, 20 Adam Balding, 21 Hall Charlton, 22 Rob Miller, 23 Tane Tu'ipulotu.
Sale: 15 Marika Vakacegu, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Mathew Tait, 12 Andy Tuilagi, 11 Ben Cohen, 10 Lee Thomas, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 David Tait, 7 Neil Briggs, 6 James Gaskell, 5 Dean Schofield, 4 Chris Jones, 3 Eifion Roberts, 2 Mahonri Schwalger, 1 Andrew Sheridan
Replacements: 16 Marc Jones, 17 Gavin Kerr, 18 Jack Forster, 19 David Seymour, 20 Rob O’Donnell, 21 Will Cliff, 22 Nick Macleod, 23 Chris Bell
Date: Sunday, September 13
Time: 15:00 (14:00 GMT)
Venue: Kingston Park
Referee: Martin Fox