Newcastle Falcons have named their team for Saturday’s all-northern friendly at Sale Sharks.

The Heywood Road clash is a 7pm kick-off, with new signings Jack Metcalf, Alex Hearle and Luan de Bruin (pictured) all starting.

Fellow recruits Connor Doherty, Sammy Arnold, Kieran Wilkinson, Cameron Neild and Tom Gordon will all make their debuts from the bench, with director of rugby Steve Diamond returning to the venue at which he spent so much of his career.

“The performance is definitely the most important thing and the result is secondary to that, but let’s be honest, after the season we’ve just had, a win’s a win,” said the Falcons boss.

“I know it’s a friendly and there are no league points on it, but we’re looking to be highly competitive in every game we play.

“It’s a normal training week for us rather than a match week in terms of the work we’re doing with the players, but the lads are in good nick. We’re still trying to get that knowledge into them, which is why we’re working them so hard, but in terms of Saturday’s game everybody is looking forward to it.

“There are lots of lads needing minutes, but it will still be a quality game. We’ll both be going with our full-strength squad and working on where we need to improve – which after last year is basically everywhere.”

Newcastle and Sale will play each other five times this season after being drawn together in the Premiership Rugby Cup, and Diamond welcomes the fact that the top-flight’s two northern clubs have such a close connection despite being fierce rivals.

“This weekend is the 25-year anniversary of them being named Sale Sharks, so it’s a nice milestone for Sale and I’ve obviously had a long affinity with the club,” said Diamond.

“For our lads going over there to Heywood Road it’s a proper ground in the old-school rugby sense, but hopefully with a couple of thousand in it should be a really good atmosphere and a useful work-out for both of us.

“As the Premiership’s two northern clubs I think ourselves and Sale need to work hand-in-glove as much as we’re able to on things like this, and as well as a mutual respect there’s also a lot of common ground in terms of wanting a thriving rugby scene in the north of the country.

“Sale have had a couple of pre-season games already against Caldy and Connacht but we’ve not watched those, because we’re focusing on ourselves. What we do know is with the quality of players they have, they’ll test us in every area, and we’ve got to play as we’ve been training.”

With his Falcons squad having last week headed across the Pennines for a camping excursion, Diamond explained: “I don’t see the point in travelling to foreign countries at great expense and spending a week in strange beds, just so you can do the same practice you’ve been doing at your normal training ground.

“I’d much rather we came together and took the lads camping in Cumbria for a couple of nights, which we did, staying at a local rugby club, doing some watersports on Ullswater and enjoying each other’s company. We went on kayaks, canoes and paddleboards, and some of the lads spent more time in the water than on top of it!

“We camped out at Penrith Rugby Club, who were brilliant hosts. We had a couple of barbecues, a few beers and some of us climbed up a mountain or two. We had local chefs come in and cook for us, the lads all sorted their own tents and we had a couple of nights in the clubhouse in the proper rugby club tradition.

“It was a bit old-school, really, but I think there’s still a place for that. We’ve been working incredibly hard for the past few months, and a couple of days away like that just helps bring everything together – especially with so many new lads joining the group.”

General admission tickets for Saturday’s game are priced £20 for adults and £10 for under-18s by clicking here, with unreserved seating available in the Richard Trickey Family Stand on a first come, first served basis. Tickets also include entry into the 2pm kick-off between Sale Sharks Women and Loughbrough Lightning. The postcode for Heywood Road is M33 3WB.

Newcastle Falcons v Sale Sharks (Saturday, 7pm, Heywood Road)

15 Louis Brown, 14 Jack Metcalf, 13 Oli Spencer, 12 Cameron Hutchison, 11 Alex Hearle, 10 Brett Connon (captain), 9 Sam Stuart; 1 Luan de Bruin, 2 Ollie Fletcher, 3 Murray McCallum, 4 Adam Scott, 5 John Hawkins, 6 Marcus Tiffen, 7 Josh Bainbridge, 8 Freddie Lockwood.

Replacements: 15 Elliott Obatoyinbo, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Connor Doherty, 12 Sammy Arnold, 11 Ben Stevenson, 10 Kieran Wilkinson, 9 James Elliott; 1 Adam Brocklebank, 2 Jamie Blamire, 3 Richard Palframan, 4 John Kelly, 5 Kiran McDonald, 6 Cameron Neild, 7 Tom Gordon, 8 Callum Chick (captain), 16 Bryan Byrne, 17 Mike Rewcastle, 18 Philip van der Walt, 21 Hugh O’Sullivan, 22 Max Pepper, 23 Ollie Leatherbarrow, [blank shirt] Joe Davis.

Sale Sharks: 15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Waisea Nayacelevu, 12 Rob du Preez 11 Tom O’Flaherty, 10 George Ford, 9 Gus Warr; 1 Bevan Rodd 2 Luke Coawn-Dickie, 3 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 4 Ernst van Rhyn, 5 Hyron Andrews, 6 Tom Curry, 7 Ben Curry (captain), 8 Jean-Luc du Preez.

Replacements: 16 Ethan Caine, 17 Si McIntyre 18 James Harper, 19 Ben Bamber, 20 Tom Burrow, 21 Sam Dugdale, 22 Rouban Birch, 23 Raffi Quirke, 24 Tom Curtis, 25 Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, 26 Will Addison, 27 Arron Reed, 28 Luke James.

Referee: Michael Hudson.