Team news: Two changes for Doncaster trip

Friday 31 January 2025 Written by: Mark Smith

Newcastle Falcons have made two changes for Saturday’s trip to Doncaster Knights as they aim to extend their unbeaten run in the Premiership Rugby Cup.

Louis Brown (pictured) returns at full-back and Luan de Bruin starts at prop for the 2.30pm kick-off, with the Falcons topping the Pool A standings after winning all three of their group games to date.

Reuben Parsons and Connor Doherty are added to the bench for the Castle Park clash, with Newcastle having taken the full five points when the two teams met at Kingston Park in November.

Senior coach Alan Dickens said: “We saw in the autumn how much the Prem Cup can be a catalyst, because we won three games and went on and had a good win over Saracens in the league on the back of it. The hope is that we can do the same again, and it’s a trophy in its own right as well.

“Sport is about winning silverware, and the fact it would give us additional games in the knock-out rounds also important because the players won’t want to have a prolonged period of just coming in and training.”

Facing Doncaster for the second time this season, the Knights made Newcastle work for their win when the teams last met, as Dickens recalls.

“It was a strange game because we began really well and led 28-0 at half-time, but we just seemed to switch off for some reason,” said the senior coach.

“We ended up winning 31-28 and withstanding a long period near our own try-line on the final play, so we know Doncaster are a side capable of causing us problems if we allow our standards to drop. We were very disappointed about how the second half played out, although in fairness to the lads they still managed to dog it out and get the win.

“We’re not underestimating Doncaster this weekend, because they’re a club who have aspirations of getting into the Premiership. I’m sure they’d admit their league form isn’t where they’d want it to be, but we know it will be a challenge going to their ground and taking them on.

“We’re going with a strong line-up which is a mark of respect to Doncaster, and they’ll be wanting to take a scalp. They’re well coached, they play with ambition and we’re expecting a challenge.”

Taking a four-try bonus point last weekend at Gallagher Premiership title contenders Bristol Bears, Dickens said: “We’ve talked this week about the first ten minutes and the last ten minutes because both of those periods cost us at Bristol, but on the whole I thought the players were outstanding.

“With 15 minutes to go we were only 31-28 down away at one of the best teams in the league, and the way we got back into the game was incredible, really. It was unfortunate that we got the yellow card near the end and Bristol capitalised, but there were loads of positives to come from the day. We need to start fast, which has been an issue of ours, and hopefully we can rectify that on Saturday.”

Supporters are advised that Saturday’s match is not being shown on TV nor live-streamed. The club will have its usual in-game updates on X (formerly Twitter).

Newcastle Falcons v Doncaster Knights (Saturday, 2.30pm, Castle Park)

15 Louis Brown, 14 Max Pepper, 13 Alex Hearle, 12 Max Clark, 11 Ben Stevenson, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Sam Stuart; 1 Adam Brocklebank, 2 Jamie Blamire, 3 Luan de Bruin, 4 Sebastian de Chaves, 5 Kiran McDonald, 6 Philip van der Walt, 7 Freddie Lockwood, 8 Callum Chick (captain).

Replacements: 16 Ollie Fletcher, 17 Micky Rewcastle, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 John Hawkins, 20 Reuben Parsons, 21 Joe Davis, 22 Kieran Wilkinson, 23 Connor Doherty.

Doncaster Knights: 15 Telusa Veainu, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jordan Olowofela, 12 Zach Kerr, 11 Maliq Holden, 10 Morgan Bunting, 9 Alex Dolly; 1 Conor Davidson, 2 George Roberts, 3 Joe Jones, 4 Ben Murphy (captain), 5 Josh Williams, 6 Adam Hopkinson, 7 Rhys Tait, 8 Morgan Strong.

Replacements: 16 Fred Davies, 17 Jasper McGuire, 18 Lewis Thiede, 19 Archie Smeaton, 20 Ben Chapman, 21 Shaun Adendorff, 22 Ollie Fox, 23 Aidan Cross.

Referee: Richard Gordon.