By Leipziger
April 8 2011

Forget the Heineken Cup and Amlin quarter-finals, Super 15, or even Boroughmuir v Ayr in the Scottish Rugby Premier Cup – there is only one rugby union match to be at this weekend, only one with the two clubs’ very existence possibly at stake, and that is the one we will be nervously getting close to in 24 hours’ time.

It’s Newcastle v Leeds.

Just a few weeks ago we beat Leeds at Headingley and pulled seven points clear of the Cardigans at the bottom of the Premiership.  Since then we have beaten Harlequins at home but Leeds have won at home against London Irish and Exeter and got a bonus point at Sale, closing the gap to just two small points.

The Falcons still have a game in hand, meaning that if both sides win their remaining games (assuming no bonus points, and of course if we lose on Saturday) then we will stay up.  However, looking at the fixtures left, it seems likely that whoever is bottom at 5pm on Saturday will go down.

So with this match being almost a cup final for both sides, the formbook is probably not much use in predicting a result.  Leeds won our last meeting at Kingston Park, a highly forgettable match last Christmas that ended 15-16, only their second win at KP in seven league visits.

This match coming so late in the season, and the fact that we will drop to 12^th place if we lose, probably makes this a bigger game than Bristol or Sale over the past two seasons.

Leeds will certainly be up for this and their supporters will be too after their win last week, so if ever there was a game when we need to make a lot of noise in the terraces, this is it.  300 of us destroyed 5,000 Cardies at Headingley in February, so tomorrow should be no problem for us.

A win is important as probably never before, a draw would be better than nothing.  Defeat is just not an option.

There is a giant blonde lock-shaped hole in the Falcons’ team for tomorrow as James Hudson has not recovered from an injury suffered at Gloucester, so Jimmy Gopperth captains the side.  Tane Tu’ipulotu partners Luke Eves in the centre and Luke Fielden and Jeremy Manning return to the backline:

15  Jeremy Manning

14  Luke Fielden

13  Luke Eves

12  Tane Tu’ipulotu

11  Alex Tait

10c  Jimmy Gopperth

9  Micky Young

1  Jon Golding

2  Matt Thompson

3  Euan Murray

4  Tim Swinson

5  Andrew van der Heijden

6  Mark Wilson

7  Will Welch

8  Ally Hogg

16  Rob Vickers

17  Grant Shiells

18  Kieran Brookes

19  Filipo Levi

20  Alex Gray

21  Chris Pilgrim

22  Gcobani Bobo

23  Rob Vickerman

Michael Stephenson played a big part in our first big relegation battle in 2002/03, but hopefully his Leeds side having England stars Steve Thompson and Hendre Fourie back will not be enough to take Leeds off bottom tomorrow:

15 Michael Stephenson

14 Lee Blackett

13 Henry Faafili

12 Luther Burrell

11 Peter Wackett

10 Adrian Jarvis

9 Scott Mathie

1 Gareth Hardy

2 Steve Thompson

3 Phil Swainston

4 Daniel Browne

5c Marco Wentzel

6 Kearnan Myall

7 Hendre Fourie

8 Alfie To'oala

16 Phil Nilsen

17 Gareth Denman

18 Juan Gomez

19 Rhys Oakley

20 Danny Paul

21 Dan White

22 Christian Lewis-Pratt

23 Semi Tadulala

Bring it on!

The Big One (Part 2)

Discussion started by FalconsRugby.org.uk , 08/04/2011 13:05

FalconsRugby.org.uk
08/04/2011 13:05

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DGNTR
08/04/2011 15:55

"meaning that if both sides win their remaining games"



I'll put my house on it that they don't, whose taking my bet?

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Cantabrian
08/04/2011 16:10

Starting to get butterflies. Looks like being a perfect day for running rugby if the nerves allow. It'll be great to see a near full KP with a pumped up crowd.
Come on you Falcons!!!

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Leipziger
08/04/2011 19:11

Obviously DG, I put in that assuming we lose tomorrow so we won't technically win all our remaining games. But we won't lose tomorrow.

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DGNTR
08/04/2011 19:27

Eh?

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alas
09/04/2011 00:16

It is an even bigger game now as Sale must be out of the equation after today's 5 points.

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