By Ridley Hall
May 3 2002

Pat Lam is the only change to the Newcastle Falcons side which desperately needs five points from Sarries on Sunday [kick off 2.30.] He comes in for Epi Taione, who has a broken bone in his hand, and who will sit out the rest of a season in which he just got better and better.

For Lam its the chance to end on a high. We meed to be in the Heineken Cup next season and he is the sort of player who will be desperate to end an illustrious career on the crest of a wave.

But there is no place in the starting line up for either Andrew Mower or Richard Arnold. Mower came on last week, and looked sharp, while Arnold has surely served his sentence for giving away penalties against Tigers. If Richard Hill is playing I'd like both of them on the pitch!

Falcons: Botham, Tuigamala, Noon, May, Stephenson, Wilkinson [capt[, Charlton, Ward, Brotherstone, Hurter, Vyvyan, Grimes, Lam, Devonshire, Dunbar.

Hill is in the Sarries squad named today as is Castaignede back to start a game for the first time in 18 months.

Sarries have been hit by injuries and are not out of danger so a return of their stars could make life more than a little difficult for Falcons.

Sarries squad:1 Adryan Winnan 2 Thomas Castaignede 3 Richard Haughton 4 Darragh O'Mahony 5 Ben Johnston 6 Tom Shanklin 7 Kevin Sorrell 8 Luke Smith 9 Kyran Bracken 10 Nick Walshe 11 Pierre Durant 12 Ben Broster 13 Luke Harbut 14 Robbie Russell 15 Matt Cairns 16 Abdel Benazzi 17 Scott Murray 18 Kieran Roche 19 Kris Chesney 20 Tony Roques 21 Richard Hill 22 Ben Russell