Newcastle v Leeds: Teams
Some familiar faces return to the Newcastle line-up that will host Leeds Carnegie at Kingston Park on Sunday.
By Rachel Griffiths
Last Updated: 27/12/09 2:04pm
Some familiar faces return to the Newcastle line-up that will host Leeds Carnegie in Guinness Premiership action at Kingston Park.
Captain Carl Hayman is among the players making a comeback to a new-look front-row, with fit-again prop Jon Golding and hooker Rob Vickers also reclaiming their starting XV spots.
Tim Swinson gets a recall to the second row, while Brent Wilson returns from injury on the openside flank.
Just two changes have been made to the backline which helped secure a bonus point away at Montauban last weekend, with Rob Vickerman recovered from injury and making a comeback against his former club in the centre while Gcobani Bobo starts on the right wing.
Falcons boss Steve Bates is set to finalise his bench on Thursday as he is awaiting fitness updates on a number of players.
Escape
Meanwhile, Leeds skipper Marco Wentzel claims he would happily cancel Christmas if it meant his side could escape the basement of the Guinness Premiership standings by claiming much-needed wins over the Falcons on Sunday and Bath in the New Year.
"As a professional player Christmas is a nice time to get together with your family but really you are thinking about the game the whole time," said Wentzel.
"If I could guarantee two wins over Christmas and New Year, I would cancel Christmas, that would be the best present I could wish for.
"Now we are coming into the New Year and are still bottom of the table things have become very serious and we know we have to really start performing and getting results now rather than when it's too late at the end of the season.
"We want to succeed, we don't want to go down, we want Leeds in the Premiership, so these two games are very important for us."
Newcastle: 15 Alex Tait, 14 Charlie Amesbury, 13 Rob Vickerman, 12 Tane Tu'ipulotu, 11 Gcobani Bobo, 10 Jimmy Gopperth, 9 Micky Young, 1 Jon Golding, 2 Rob Vickers, 3 Carl Hayman (c), 4 James Hudson, 5 Tim Swinson, 6 Josh Afu, 7 Brent Wilson, 8 Filipo Levi.
Replacements: 16 Matt Thompson, 17 Micky Ward, 18 Grant Shiells, 19 Mark Sorenson, 20 Will Welch, 21 Hall Charlton, 22 Rob Miller, 23 Tom Biggs,
Leeds:15 Leigh Hinton, 14 Scott Armstrong, 13 Seru Rabeni, 12 Henry Paul, 11 Lee Blackett, 10 Ceiron Thomas 9 Andy Gomarsall, 8 Alfie To'oala, 7 Hendre Fourie, 6 Kearnan Myall, 5 Marco Wentzel (c), 4 Erik Lund, 3 Juan Gomez, 2 Rob Rawlinson, 1 Mike MacDonald.
Replacements: 16 Vili Ma'asi, 17 Gareth Hardy, 18 Tommy McGee, 19 Rhys Oakley, 20 Calum Clark, 21 Scott Mathie, 22 Joe Ford, 23 Henry Fa'afili.