By Duncan Wood
November 29 2002

Peter Thorburn has named a 23 man squad to face Newcastle in a crucial Zurich Premiership clash. Victory will see the Shoguns continue to climb but defeat would undo some of the good work of recent weeks.

Peter Throburn will delay naming his starting lineup until nearer the time but has named a 23 man squad for the away trip to Newcastle. A starting XV and 7 replacements means that one sole person will miss out on matchday.

Club captain Ross Beattie returns to the squad for the first time since the away game at Gloucester back in September. He is one of 3 players in the squad who could potentially play at number eight along with Matt Salter and Rhys Oakley.

There are also returns for Phil Christophers, Felipe Contepomi and Agustin Pichot who have finished their international duties with England and Argentina.

Christophers, along with Andrew Higgins, will be looking to add to the pair of tries that he scored against Newcastle a few weeks ago. Four between them again would go down very nicely!

I wouldn't anticipate many changes in the pack apart from the possible return of Beattie although he may have to settle for an outing from the bench.

Other possible changes would be at half back where Pichot and Contepomi are the accepted first choice pairing although Peter Richards and especially Shane Drahm have let no-one down in recent weeks.

On the wing, Phil Christophers, Brendon Daniel and David Rees look to be competing for 2 positions. Of the 3, Brendon has been in great form and gave Michael Stephenson a tough time in the last meeting.

Lee Best will also be looking to carry on his excellent recent form and I'm sure that Jamie William's return to fitness and Shane Drahm's availability at fullback will give him just the incentive he needs.

Lee Best, Brendon Daniel, Matt Carrington, Phil Christophers, Andrew Higgins, Daryl Gibson, David Rees, Shane Drahm, Felipe Contepomi, Peter Richards, Agustin Pichot, Emiliano Bergamaschi, Richard Skuse, Saul Nelson, Paul Johnstone, Darren Crompton, Garath Archer, Scott Morgan, Alex Brown, Matt Salter, Craig Short, Ross Beattie, Rhys Oakley.