By Worried of Whitton
December 29 2006

The third game over the holiday period sees Harlequins host Newcastle who “first foot” at The Stoop on New Years Day 2007, kick off at 3pm. The New Year heralds Round 12 & effectively the start of the second half of the season, despite that Quins have yet to meet Bath in the Premiership this season.

This is the third time the two teams have met in the last two months. Importantly Quins won a very hard encounter at Kingston Park back in November in the Premiership. Despite a stoic performance, they lost to Newcastle in the Anglo Welsh Cup match, although Harlequins were already out of this competition. Like Harlequins, Newcastle will be looking for a result from this match to help propel them further up the table. Quins however have held the upper hand at home against Newcastle in recent years and are expected to do so again, and maintain a hangover for the travelling supporters.

The other Round 12 games are

and all eyes at The Stoop will be on the result from Franklins Gardens, Northampton v Worcester.

Finally may I take this opportunity to wish you all Harlequins Supporters, the Team, the Management and the Office Staff a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and I’m sure that we are all looking forward to a multi-coloured Christmas, to give us some extra cheer this holiday season.

NEC Harlequins
TBC

Newcastle Falcons

Newcastle Falcons have made eight changes and one positional switch to their side for Monday’s Guinness Premiership trip to NEC Harlequins.
Matthew Burke returns to captain the Falcons after being restricted to a bench appearance in the 40-25 Boxing Day victory over champions Sale Sharks due to the overseas player regulations.

With Kiwi prop Joe McDonnell rested this week, however, Burke is free to start at fullback in place of Anthony Elliott. Samoan international Loki Crichton comes in to the team at fly half as Toby Flood shifts to inside centre following the bang picked up by Mark Mayerhofler against Sale.

The only other change to the back line comes at scrum half where Lee Dickson slots in for James Grindal, while there are five changes in the forwards.

In the front row Jon Golding packs down at loose head in place of McDonnell, while Andy Long starts at hooker for Matt Thompson. Fit-again Andy Perry returns to the second row as Jason Oakes drops to the bench, while blindside flanker Eni Gesinde and openside Brent Wilson replace Geoff Parling and Ben Woods respectively.

Newcastle Falcons team to face NEC Harlequins:
15 Matthew Burke (captain), 14 Tom May, 13 Mathew Tait, 12 Toby Flood, 11 John Rudd, 10 Loki Crichton, 9 Lee Dickson, 1 Jon Golding, 2 Andy Long, 3 Micky Ward, 4 Mark Sorenson, 5 Andy Perry, 6 Eni Gesinde, 7 Brent Wilson, 8 Russell Winter
Replacements: Johnny Williams, Matt Thompson, Jason Oakes, Geoff Parling, Tom Dillon, James Grindal, Anthony Elliott