Newcastle Falcons - We're back!! Championship winners

First topic message reminder :

Manager: Dean Richards
Head Coach: Peter Russell

Current Squad:

Forwards
Props:
Grant Shiels
Oliver Tomasczyk
Keiron Brookes
Scott Wilson

Hookers:
Matt Thompson
Rob Vickers
Scott Lawson

Second Rows:
Carlo Del Fava
Scott MacLeod
Sean Tomes
Frasier McKensie

Back Row
Ally Hogg
Will Welch
Richard Mayhew
Andy Saul
Mark Wilson
Chris York

Backs
SH's
Rory Lawson
Chris Pilgrim
Warren Fury
Mike Blair

Fh's
Joel Hodgson
Waisea Luveniyali
Rory Clegg
Phil Godman

Centres
Jamie Helleur
James Fitzpatrick
Tane Tu'ipulotu
Andrew Higgins
Alex Crocket
Michael Tait
Adam Powell
Danny Barnes - In from Munster

Wing:
Ryan Shortland
Andy Higgins
Suka Hufanga
Noah Cato

FB's:
Tom Catterick
Alex Tait

Some bad news:

http://www.newcastlefalcons.co.uk/news/story/pilgrim-out-for-remainder-of-the-season

What a shame for Pilgrim!

I am interested to see what sort of crowd the first home game in the championship will attract. Two TBP wins in a row on the road will help attract fans.

Interesting to see the schools match being put on as a warm up. (fond memories of playing against RGS - once got MoTM there enabling me to briefly pull the hottest girl in school )

Ah Pilgrim out.

That is bad news mate...he's been playing well.

Time to move Joel there...

LT

I think just playing a decent bit of rugby will attract fans...for too many years now its been utter rubbish...which when its a cold, wet, winter night in Newcastle is not a great seller....

I am going to stick my neck out and guess 4500-5000.

That would be a pretty decent turn-out.

Bad news is that the appearance of Real Ale that has been mooted just recently has been put back a week or so.

Team is up again:

15 Jimmy Gopperth, 14 Luke Fielden, 13 Tane Tu’ipulotu, 12 James Fitzpatrick, 11 Andy Higgins, 10 Waisea Luveniyali 9 Rory Lawson, 1 Jonny Golding, 2 Matt Thompson, 3 Oliver Tomaszczyk, 4 Scott MacLeod, 5 James Hudson, 6 Richard Mayhew, 7 Will Welch (c), 8 Ally Hogg

Replacements: 16 Rob Vickers, 17 James Hall, 18 Sean Tomes, 19 Mark Wilson, 20 Alex Crockett 21 Jordi Pasqualin, 22 Joel Hodgson

Like the centre partnership, both very hard runners.

Their opponents:

15) Dougie Flockhart
14) Dante Mama
13) Will Simpson
12) James Tincknell
11) Tyson Lewis
10) Jamie Lennard
9) Chris Hallam
1) Brian McGovern
2) Rhys Buckley
3) Jerry Cronin
4) Royce Cadman
5) Phil Hoy
6) Matt Challinor ©
7) Jethro Rawling
8) Adam Kettle.

Replacements; 16) Andy Brown, 17) Ben Sowery, 18) Andy Boyde, 19) David Bradford, 20) Sam Pailor 21) James Munro, 22) Tom Barrett

Jeez that Falcons team looks strong, far too strong for the Championship

I reckon we'll rack up 50 in this one

OOhh i like the look of that team.

Wouldnt fancy being one of their centres...they're gonna have a few bruises after this one.

Two good lineout second rows...are we missing a little beef in there..maybe...maybe not. Lets hope Matt Thompson can hit them. Still think we need a top notch hooker. Hope young McGuigan proves to be the one.

I like the fact Deano is mixing it aswell....dare i say playing the best team for the opposition...not just the best team according to what we might say...

Lions 2017 coaching team- Connor O'Shea and Dean Richards?

30 minutes gone, Falcons struggling a little to put any pahases together it seems.

10-3 after a penalty try and a penalty apiece.

13-3 at HT, the try was a penalty one at scrum time.

16-3 now.

A really dominant scrum display apparently.

Second try just scored. 23-3

Falcons will be looking to pull away you would think.

Came from a rolling maul apparently. Great to see it coming back into the game.

Catterick having a 'storma' according to twitter.

Attendance is 4317 - according to the same tw@tter

Pretty good, interesting to see ho wmany at Kassam on Sunday.

Yeah, fairly pleased with that. It would have been good if we could have matched the Bristol attendance though.

30-3 now.

And we get the bonus point try, twitter says 36-3 which doesn't work by my reckoning. But anyway, can't ask for much better than though eh? Three games and three bonus point wins, two of which were away from home.

Yeah, i could not add that up either. I wonder if Falcons staff and players will be a little disappointed with that?

Yeah ...3 wins 3 bp's good stuff.

Nice to see TC having a good game. He's a talent. Looking like he's focusing on back three rather than FH where i thought he would move.

Looked like Tane and Fitzy were causing havoc aswell....now thats a nice centre combo!

PS
What was the Durham school v RGS result before hand

From what I've read things went up a notch when Hodgson came on at flyhalf which is good news too.

Yeah mate he seems to have really gone up a notch this season...he's a crackin prospect

Teams up for the trip to Pirates

Newcastle Falcons:
1 Jonny Golding
2 Rob Vickers
3 Oliver Tomaszczyk
4 Scott MacLeod
5 James Hudson
6 Ally Hogg (c)
7 Taiasina Tu’ifua
8 Richard Mayhew

9 Rory Lawson
10 Joel Hodgson
11 Tom Catterick
12 Tane Tu’ipulotu
13 Alex Crockett
14 Luke Fielden
15 Jimmy Gopperth

16 Matt Thompson, 17 James Hall, 18 Carlo del Fava, 19 Mark Wilson, 20 Jordi Pasqualin, 21 Jamie Helleur, 22 Alex Tait

Looks like the coaching team have been impressed with young Joel. Nice to see TC continuing...though i wish Fitzy was in there with Tane..i like that physical partnership.

PS anyone going to the develppment game on Monday v Saints

It won't be an easy game this, Pirates are a tough nut to crack at home. Their team is:

Cornish Pirates:
K. Hallett, T. Bedford, T. Riley, J. Fatialofa, W. Davies
A. Penberthy, T. Kessell, B. Maidment, P. Burgess (capt), C. Morgan
G. Johnson, D. Lyons, A. Paver, R. Elloway, R. Storer.

Replacements:
P. Andrew, D. Semmens, Peter Joyce, D. Barry
G. Cattle, A. Cheesman, L.Vinnicombe.

Their open-side Burgess is one to watch out for, he's a great spoiler and broken field runner. A number of Premiership clubs are interested in him apparently.

Yeah it should be a difficult game mate. They got beat off Bristol recently so will be looking to make amends as well.

Nice to see Hodgson involved, does Richards know his strongest XV?

Not sure mate...but he obviously rates Hodgson. He's made it quite clear that this is a tough game and he's happy to put the young lad in.

He's a serious talent and looks to have bulked up a little aswell which was needed.
I actually thought him and TC would be battling for the 10 spot...but they seem to have decided that TC is a winger / FB.

Hodgson could be magic, really like the look of him.

I'm surprised nobody has been in for Burgess, he's a real star at this level.

Could be a very tight game.

Looking for to the Leeds game next week , should be a good test at home just hope we're not too switched off after we battered them in pre-season but can't imagine Richards will let them be.

Oh i dont think Deano would let that any complacency come in.

I do believe we are the strongest team in the league...but that means diddly if you go in to a game with a poor attitude....

Keeping the 100% record going:

http://www.newcastlefalcons.co.uk/news/story/pirates-3-falcons-25

Yeah good stuff.

Not the best conditions but solid performance.

See the Leeds game is buy one get one free on the tickets

Yeah good to see they are trying to get the stadium full...ill be there regardless of offers

The A team narrowly lost to Northampton Wanderers 17-19. Sounds like it was plated out in nasty weather conditions.

http://www.newcastlefalcons.co.uk/news/story/falcons-17-northampton-19

Lawson and Gopperth is a quality hinge.

Playing Ally Hogg at blindside at the moment?

Ally has been play 8,7 and 6 Carlin. We have quite a luxury of deapth and quality in the back row at the moment...so we can move him around. And he's looked rejuvenated this season.

Cumbrian i wanted to get to the game but couldnt make it. Apparently it was horrific weather to play a game...but we only just lost it in the last minutes.

Yet again Fitzy gets good reviews.

Teams are up:

Newcastle Falcons: 15 Jimmy Gopperth, 14 Luke Fielden, 13 Alex Crockett, 12 Tane Tu’ipulotu, 11 Tm Catterick, 10 Joel Hodgson, 9 Rory Lawson, 1 Jonny Golding, 2 Rob Vickers, 3 Oliver Tomaszczyk, 4 Carlo del Fava, 5 James Hudson, 6 Mark Wilson, 7 Richard Mayhew, 8 Ally Hogg (c)

Replacements: 16 Matt Thompson, 17 James Hall, 18 Scott MacLeod, 19 Taiasina Tu’ifua, 20 Jordi Pasqualin, 21 Alex Tait, 22 Jamie Helleur

Leeds:

15. Stevie McColl
14. Curtis Wilson
13. Josh Griffin
12. Fred Burdon
11. David Doherty

10. Joe Ford
9. Craig Hampson

1. Sam Lockwood
2. Phil Nilsen
3. Damien Tussac
4. Matt Smith
5. Dan Hemingway
6. Jacob Rowan (c)
7. Chris Walker
8. Rob Baldwin

16. Harry Hannan
17. Lee Imiolek
18. Ben Hooper
19. Calum Green
20. Richard Beck
21. James Doherty
22. Jamel Chisholm

Looking forward to this one

Hi
I was just wondering what was happening with Grant Shiels this year? Being Scottish and havoing a soft spot for the falcons I have been keeping an eye. I know he was looking good last year and there was some talk of him playing for Scotland but hes not been on any of the teams posted yet, is it form or just better players ?

Interesting team. He likes rotating many of the players.

Nice to see Joel seems 1st choice 10 now though....likewise TC on the wing.

Nice to see Mark Wilson getting a start aswell. I rate him highly...

What do you think the crack with Fitxy is....is it just a case of Deano thinks the other two are simply better players.

Should be a corker , real test for our back row as Rowen and Walker are meant to be stars at this level.

I think the crack with Fitzy is he's been 'coached' into being a better player and is acting as Tui's 'Apprentice'. Tu'ipolotu has been one of our best backs according to most and Crockett isn't a bad player at 13.

Yeah, but ours is still a strong backrow...

Tui'poltu is a cracking player...theres no doubt about that.

I agree Fitzy could do with improving certain aspects of his creativtry and skills...but can you imagine how good he would be if he managed it.

It would solve the england 12 spot problem...

Fitz & Tuilagi in midfield........would they be any point in having wingers???

Would they be any point in having 11 , 13 , 14 or 15?

Driver wrote:Should be a corker , real test for our back row as Rowen and Walker are meant to be stars at this level.

I think the crack with Fitzy is he's been 'coached' into being a better player and is acting as Tui's 'Apprentice'. Tu'ipolotu has been one of our best backs according to most and Crockett isn't a bad player at 13.

They are both opensides and ex-England U20 captains so we could be in for a scrap on the deck. To be honest I'm really surprised that Leeds have been able to hold on to Rowan for as long as they have, especially with the relationship they have brokered with Sale. Unfortunately another year in the Championship could see that change. He is a Premiership quality player and I am sure somebody will come in for him soon if Leeds can't get themselves back up.