Newcastle Falcons have announced a further change to their starting XV for Friday's Guinness Premiership clash with Bristol at Kingston Park, with fullback Alex Tait a late injury withdrawal.

The England Under-20s star misses out after failing to recover from an ankle injury, and is replaced in the team by Scotland 'A' fullback Steve Jones.

All Black prop Joe McDonnell returns from a pelvis injury, being joined in the front row by hooker Matt Thompson.

In the backs Tim Visser comes in to the side on the right wing, as Spencer Davey drops to the bench and Tom May moves to inside centre.

Speaking about the need to bounce back from last Sunday's defeat, director of rugby Steve Bates said: “We had a long look at the Saracens game, and have trained this week accordingly.

“In addition I had a lengthy chat with the RFU referees department this week about a number of key instances in the first half which had a major affect on the game.

“We didn't play well on the day, nobody is arguing with that, but we were certainly not helped by the major influence the referee had on the game. We have to bounce back quickly because there is nothing we can now do about last weekend's result, and that has been the emphasis this week.”

With an abbreviated week seeing the squad in for extra training on their day off, Bates added: “A Sunday to Friday turnaround does pose a number of challenges to us in preparing the squad, as well as picking up some injuries to Andy Buist and Alex Tait, but that's the nature of this game and you just have to get on with it.”

Refusing to buy in to misplaced media hype about Friday being a relegation decider, he said: “This is game 4 out of 22, and we go in to all of them with a very positive approach in feeling that we can win.

“We see this as another important Guinness Premiership game, as they all are, and we know from watching the tapes that Bristol are a very capable outfit. They were unfortunate last week not to beat Sale and their first-half performance against Bath was also impressive, so we have to prepare ourselves for a very tough contest.

“We know that if we play well then we are in with a shout of getting a result, and if we don't play well that we won't – it's the same for every game, not just this one.”

Having moved Tom May from the wing to the inside centre berth, Bates explained: “We feel that Tom's contribution in the pre-season and the Guinness Premiership games so far has been a very positive one.

“On the few occasions where we managed to keep the ball for a bit down at Saracens he was a very influential force for us, and we feel that our game plan will be better served by him having the ball in his hands more.

“Friday gives us the chance to do that, and I have no problems at all about putting him in to the centres. He came through as an Under-21 international centre, has played a lot of rugby there and we'll see how he goes. He's much more mature now as a player, he has good skills and the power to break tackles so if we can get the ball to him more often we believe that he can do a bit more damage.

“Illness to Ollie Phillips means Tim Visser gets a chance to show us what he can do on the wing, and I'm looking forward to seeing what impact he has as a big powerful runner out in those wide spaces.

“He will definitely have his hands full in marking David Lemi, who is a very classy operator, but Tim has the ability to make his presence felt if we can use him in the right way.”

Tickets for Friday's game are still available by calling 0871 226 60 60, or from Kingston Park in person.

Newcastle Falcons team to face Bristol:

15 Steve Jones
14 Tim Visser
13 Jamie Noon
12 Tom May
11 John Rudd
10 Jonny Wilkinson
9 James Grindal

1 Joe McDonnell
2 Matt Thompson
3 Carl Hayman
4 Andy Perry
5 Mark Sorenson
6 Adam Balding
7 Ed Williamson
8 Phil Dowson (captain)

Replacements:

16 Andy Long
17 Micky Ward
18 Tim Swinson
19 Russell Winter
20 Hall Charlton
21 Spencer Davey
22 Rory Clegg