Newcastle Falcons have made three changes for Saturday’s LV= Cup trip to Leicester Tigers as new director of rugby Gary Gold targets back-to-back victories in charge (kick-off 3pm).
Gold, who guided his side to a comprehensive 37-7 triumph over Sale Sharks last weekend, has thrown Jonny Golding into the mix after five months out with persistent Achilles problems.
Golding starts in the front-row after tasting the final 15 minutes of last Sunday’s thumping win at home to Sale and is a welcome boost for the northeasterners going into the business end of the campaign.
Fellow props Dan Frazier and Grant Shiells miss out with respective back problems with the latter expected to return for next weekend’s Aviva Premiership showdown at Bath.
Greg Goosen returns to full-back after three weeks out with a cyst in his calf while points machine Jimmy Gopperth moves back to his favoured fly-half berth.
Richard Mayhew rounds off the changes with the English qualified Kiwi getting the nod in the back-row. Samoan Jamie Helleur has a place on the bench after being sidelined with a finger injury.
Sitting on 10 points, four points behind the Scarlets in their pool, Newcastle have a mathematical chance of progressing through to the semi-finals.
“What was encouraging against Sale was not the fact that we won the game but it was the fact that we put things into place in a very short space of time,” said former South Africa assistant coach Gold.
He added: “It gave me some reward that we are improving but I am at pains to say that we still have a lot of work to do. All last week has done is make opposition teams stand up and take notice and think that they must go hard at Newcastle.
“We will have to live with that pressure and there is no better test than this weekend at Welford Road and we will be measuring ourselves against a top team away from home.”
Just hours after the Falcons put Sale to the sword with a devastating attacking display, the club announced that former England forwards coach John Wells had joined the backroom team. Wells is reunited with talented defence coach Mike Ford on Tyneside whom he worked with during his six year stint at Twickenham.
Gold is delighted to have got his man saying: “When I was approached to become director of rugby at Newcastle I definitely wanted to bring these two guys [John Wells and Mike Ford] with me and as John told the website it is going to be like knock-out rugby from now until the end of the season.
“The other coaching staff have been outstanding and they have bought into what we are doing fantastically well but we felt that we needed an experienced head. Semore is serious about this club and rugby in the North East is important so we want to give ourselves the best chance.
“We believe in the players and that is why the three of us came here and what John Wells will bring is a wealth of experience.”
Newcastle: 15 Greg Goosen, 14 Ryan Shortland, 13 Corne Uys, 12 James Fitzpatrick, 11 Suka Hufanga, 10 Jimmy Gopperth, 9 Chris Pilgrim, 1 Jonny Golding, 2 Rob Vickers, 3 James Hall, 4 Adriaan Fondse, 5 Tim Swinson, 6 Ally Hogg, 7 Richard Mayhew, 8 Mark Wilson
Replacements: 16 Joe Graham, 17 Darren Fearn, 18 Ashley Wells, 19 Richard Boyle, 20 Taiasina Tu’ifua, 21 Will Chudley, 22 Jamie Helleur, 23 Joel Hodgson
