On the Borders’ only previous trip to KP the Falcons ran out winners by 41-12, with Doddie Weir and George Graham making returns to the North East and Semo Sititi making his first appearance here.  Sofa of course returned to Netherdale at the end of last season to team up with Scotland stars such as Gregor Townsend, Simon Danielli and Chris Cusiter.  Townsend was injured at the weekend however, as was captain Paul Thomson whose armband was worn instead by Bruce Douglas.

Borders’ last match was against Cardiff at home, where a record Celtic League attendance in Galashiels of 3,879 saw the home side hang on or a tight victory by 26-23 over Jonah Lomu’s side, despite being 17 points ahead at one stage.  Nikki Walker and Tom McGee were the try-scorers for Borders, and lock Scott MacLeod was the man of the match.

Away from home our opponents have won only twice this season, at Connacht and L’Aquila, though they did beat Brive at home a month ago and the Celtic League champions the Ospreys have lost at Netherdale too.

We also had a tough time in Scotland in October, when Toby Flood and Matt Thompson’s tries, together with two conversions and four penalties from Jonny Wilkinson kept our noses about Borders whose points came from a Paul Thomson try and two Charlie Hore penalties.

The teams, as a reminder, were :–

Borders: S Moffat, S Danielli, B MacDougall, G Law (S Cranston 48), N Walker, C Hore, C Cusiter (B McEarchar 17-29), P Thomson © (T McGee 64), R Ford, B Douglas, O Palepoi, M Blair (J Dalziel 44), S Gray (K Brown 57), A Miller, S Sititi. 

Newcastle: M Burke, T May, J Noon (D Walder 17-21), T Flood, M Tait, J Wilkinson, H Charlton (J Grindal 52), G Anderson (D Wilson 53), M Thompson, T Paoletti (M Ward 53), L Gross (A Buist 60), G Parling, M McCarthy (O Finegan 64), C Harris, C Charvis ©.

However, whilst Borders are certainly capable of causing an upset on Sunday, not least because they sit sixth in their league, we should be too strong especially if Walder, Grimes and Wilkinson are all fit.

Because a win would see us qualify for the quarter-finals, and with a few tries be almost certain of a home draw.  Nine points would be enough to see us have a home semi-final too, providing we have more points / score more tries in total than London Irish.  But first things first, we must win on Sunday.  With the Challenge Cup being our only real chance of Heineken Cup rugby next season, defeat on Sunday is just not an option.

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