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Newcastle Falcons will be hoping to banish the memory of their last meeting with Stade Francais when the two sides clash on Friday night. - 04/12/2014 12:30
Newcastle director of rugby Dean Richards is ready to put his faith in his home-grown stars for their clash with Bucarest Wolves.
The Falcons open up their European Rugby Challenge Cup campaign against the Romanian side on Friday night (8pm).
After back-to-back wins in the Aviva Premiership, Richards has revealed he will ring the changes for first Champions Cup fixture. This is likely to include a host of English-born players and those on duel contracts with Championship sides.
Richards said: “Everyone has to appreciate our priority is the Premiership. A few of the boys are carrying some niggles, and some of them will have a bit of a breather. “There will be a few guys who will get that rest after playing a lot of the league games so far, and we now have two European dates before a pair of LV= Cup matches.
“But what it does do is allow us to place a heavy emphasis on English-qualified players over these next few games. That will be absolutely fantastic, and allow people to see some of the guys we have coming through the club at the moment.”
Scrum half Ruki Tipuna is likely to be among those rested while Ben Morris was in line for a start but he suffered a broken wrist playing for Rotherham.
Richards added: “It gives other guys a chance who are on the fringes, and they can show their wares.
“You have to play with a squad in a season as long as this, and it gives us the opportunity to work on our depth.
“Lots of guys have been going really well on the Monday nights in the A-League and out with other clubs, so it is a chance for some of those boys to come in and show the management what they can do.”
Match Facts
- Newcastle Falcons and Bucharest Wolves have met each other twice before, with Newcastle Falcons coming out on top both times.
- The 12-13 loss to Newcastle last season was the closest Bucharest Wolves have come to beating an English side in the competition.
- Newcastle didn’t concede a single try in the first 20 minutes of a game in the competition last season, the only side to achieve this feat.
- Bucharest Wolves reached the tournament this year by defeating Calvisano over two legs in the qualifying competition.
Newcastle Falcons opened their European Challenge Cup bid with a seven-try
Newcastle Falcons opened their European Challenge Cup bid with a seven-try, 43-19 victory over Bucharest Wolves.
Tom Penny, Will Witty and David Nelson all scored on their senior debuts for the Falcons. Mark Wilson, Chris Harris and Lee Smith also crossed while Rory Clegg added three conversions to make it a perfect start in Pool 3..
Newcastle did not have it all their own way at Kingston Park where the Wolves put up a strong contest, particularly in the second half, and were unfortunate not to come away with a bonus point. Wing Ionut Botezatu crossed in either half before Florin Ionita added the Wolves third try.
However, it took the Wolves most of the first half to get up to speed with the Falcons who made a flying start inside two minutes through lock Witty. Smith followed moments later and Harris soon added a third.
Bucharest lost key No8 Constatin Ene through injury but still briefly rallied through their set-piece before working an opening out wide for Botezatu. Falcons hit straight back to clinch a bonus-point through back-row Wilson before centre Penny crossed twice for a 36-7 lead at half-time.
Wolves caught Newcastle over-stretching themselves with a breakaway score for Botezatu and made a real contest of the second half when Ionita followed. That cut the deficit to 36-19 before Nelson stepped off the bench for his debut and scored within two minutes to wrap up a comfortable win.
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