Newcastle Falcons v Gloucester - Match preview
By Leipziger
February 25 2005
Much has been said and written about last week’s debacle at Leicester, but the great thing about league rugby is that there’s always next week to put it right, and so we look to take our anger out on Gloucester this Sunday.
February 25 2005
Much has been said and written about last week’s debacle at Leicester, but the great thing about league rugby is that there’s always next week to put it right, and so we look to take our anger out on Gloucester this Sunday.
While we were being trounced at Welford Road, Gloucester defeated Bath by a point, 17-16, in a tight south-west derby at Kingsholm. The Cherry and Whites’ points came with a try from long-serving centre Terry Fanolua, his fifth in the Premiership this season, three penalties by Henry Paul and a Brad Davies drop goal. The win lifted them one point above us into fifth in the table, and Gloucester, along with Bath and Saracens, will be our main rivals for the last Heineken Cup qualifying spots in the Premiership behind the top three. Therefore, a win in this game is crucial.
History is on our side in this respect, as Gloucester have only won two of eight league visits to Kingston Park, 18-19 in 2000/01 and 19-22 two years later. However, we have won only two of the last ten meetings over the last five years. We suffered our first defeat of the season at Kingsholm in September, 31-17, in a game which made us wonder if our inside centres were cursed as, after Mark Mayerhofler’s broken leg the previous week, Joe Shaw had to be replaced with Mathew Tait after only 23 minutes. A late Michael Stephenson try following four penalties from Jonny Wilkinson were all we could manage against three Gloucester scores, by Alex Brown and cannon wings Marcel Garvey and James Simpson-Daniel. This was our eighth successive defeat in Gloucester since winning our solitary match there 29-27 in 1998, however we have beaten them four times at home since, most recently a five-try (including a Tom May hat-trick) 42-22 hammering in October 2003.
A similar performance will be required this weekend if we are to keep up our hopes of European Cup qualification through the Premiership. Gloucester are not in their position by accident – they will be able to call on England internationals Henry Paul, James Simpson-Daniel and Andy Gomarsall, Sevens star Simon Amor, Samoan Terry Fanolua and young guns like Marcel Garvey and James Forrester. Andy Hazell is with the England squad in Dublin, whilst World Champion Phil Vickery is injured.
We on the other hand are again missing both Stuart Grimes and new father Jamie Noon due to international duty, but David Walder returns to the starting line-up at full-back as we make five changes from last week, although our new Argentinian prop Galo Alvarez Quinones is not involved. Also in are Craig Hamilton, James Isaacson, Phil Dowson and Andy Long. Mathew Tait continues at centre alongside Mark Mayerhofler in Noon’s absence, and with Ian Peel rested, Dowson captains the side for the first time. Our team:
15 Dave Walder
14 Tom May
13 Mathew Tait
12 Mark Mayerhofler
11 Michael Stephenson
10 Mark Wilkinson
9 James Grindal
1 James Isaacson
2 Andy Long
3 Micky Ward
4 Luke Gross
5 Craig Hamilton
6 Mike McCarthy
7 Cory Harris
8 Phil Dowson (captain)
Replacements:
16 Ian Peel
17 David Wilson
18 Matt Thompson
19 Geoff Parling
20 Semo Sititi
21 Hall Charlton
22 Joe Shaw
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