Leeds Carnegie v Newcastle Falcons - RFU Championship play-off semi-final first leg
Leeds Carnegie have been boosted by news Stevie McColl has been passed fit to tackle Newcastle on Monday.
Last Updated: 03/05/13 2:08pm
McColl suffered a should injury in the win over Nottingham in the final game of the regualr season however he has recovered to wear the No 15 shirt.
Leeds will be missing hooker Joe Graham, who is on loan from Newcastle, and fly-half Rory Clegg, while there are starts for Matt Smith and Craig Hampson.
Newcastle have made just the two changes to their line-up following the win over Bedford last time out.
Tane Tu'ipulotu and Ryan Shortland come into the back division, with Jamie Helleur dropping to the bench and Tom Catterick missing out. There is a positional switch, with Alex Tait moving to full-back.
"We are in a good position at the moment with a number of key players coming back from injury, but at the same time we will be taking nothing for granted against Leeds," director of rugby Dean Richards told Falcons TV.
"It is crucial that we maintain our performance for the full 80 minutes, and the final six minutes of last weekend's game proved that," added Richards whose side progressed through to the British and Irish Cup final by virtue of last Saturday's 18-15 victory at Bedford Blues despite a late fight-back from their Championship rivals.
Leeds: 15 Stevie McColl, 14 Oli Goss, 13 Josh Griffin, 12 Fred Burdon, 11 David Doherty, 10 Joe Ford, 9 Craig Hampson, 1 Lee Imiolek, 2 Scott Freer, 3 Damien Tussac, 4 Calum Green, 5 Matt Smith, 6 Rob Baldwin, 7 Chris Walker, 8 Jacob Rowan (c)
Replacements: 16 Phil Nilsen, 17 James Currie, 18 Ben Harris, 19 Pierce Phillips, 20 Ryan Burrows, 21 James Doherty, 22 Christian Georgiou,
Newcastle Falcons: 15 Alex Tait, 14 Noah Cato, 13 Adam Powell, 12 Tane Tu'ipulotu, 11 Ryan Shortland, 10 Jimmy Gopperth, 9 Warren Fury, 1 Jonny Golding, 2 Michael Mayhew, 3 Oliver Tomaszczyk, 4 Scott MacLeod, 5 James Hudson, 6 Mark Wilson, 7 Will Welch (c), 8 Ally Hogg.
Replacements: 16 Rob Vickers, 17 Scott Wilson, 18 Carlo del Fava, 19 Richard Mayhew, 20 Chris Pilgrim, 21 Joel Hodgson, 22 Jamie Helleur