By Falcona
September 27 2019

Falcons name side for Sunday’s home opener against Doncaster Knights kick off 3pm  at Kingston Park Stadium.

 Dean Richards has handed a first start to centre George Wacokecoke, who scored two tries after coming on from the bench. He partners Ben Stevenson in midfield, Toby Flood moving to fly-half in an otherwise unchanged back line.  Jamie Blamire continues at hooker after catching the eye last time out, Sebastian de Chaves making his club debut in the second row following his summer move from last year’s Championship winners London Irish. Fellow lock Sean Robinson captains the side, with flanker John Hardie coming in to start on the open-side.

Director of rugby Dean Richards said: “Doncaster are a very organised team with a big physical presence in the pack and a good set of backs, so it won’t be an easy game.   “We were a little bit rusty last weekend with having had no warm-up games, and that showed over in Jersey to a degree. We came through in the end, I thought the boys did quite well and we’re hoping to see some progression on Sunday.”

Richards hopes North East sports fans will take full advantage of an appetising day of action, with both codes of rugby on display at Kingston Park Stadium.

“It’s a great day to be a rugby fan because you can watch all the Rugby World Cup games in the morning, come here for Newcastle Thunder’s rugby league semi-final at noon and then stay on for our game at 3pm,” he said.   “There’s even the Newcastle United game on the TVs in the bar afterwards if you really want to stretch out the day, and it’s great for people to take advantage of having so much sport going on.”

Newcastle Falcons:

15 Tom Arscott, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Ben Stevenson, 12 George Wacokecoke, 11 Sinoti Sinoti, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Sam Stuart, 1 Adam Brocklebank, 2 Jamie Blamire, 3 Rodney Ah You, 4 Sebastian de Chaves, 5 Sean Robinson (captain), 6 Gary Graham, 7 John Hardie, 8 Callum Chick, 

Replacements:  16 Kyle Cooper, 17 Sam Lockwood, 18 Trevor Davison, 19 Toby Salmon, 20 Simon Uzokwe, 21 Joel Hodgson, 22 Brett Connon, 23 Alex Tait

Doncaster Knights:

15 Lloyd Hayes, 14 Curtis Wilson, 13 Kyle Evans, 12 Pete Lucock, 11 Tyson Lewis,10 Sam Olver,9 Reiss Cullen,1 Marc Thomas,2 George Edgson,3 Charlie Beech,     4 Morgan Eames,5 Matt Smith,6 Sam Jones,7 Michael Hills (captain),8 Rory Pitman,

Replacements:  16 Will Holling,17 Andy Foster,18 Joe Sproston,19 Tom Hicks,20 Rouban Birch,21 Sam Pocklington,22 Charlie Foley,23 Robin Hislop

Referee: Andrew Jackson