Chick reaches 150 against Tigers

Callum Chick plays his 150^th game for Newcastle Falcons on Saturday when they host Leicester Tigers in Gallagher Premiership action.

The No.8 captains the home side in their 5.30pm Kingston Park kick-off, with the Falcons making just one change to their starting XV.

Ben Redshaw comes onto the right wing having come on and scored a try last weekend at Harlequins, with Adam Radwan ruled out by a head knock.

Argentina international Pedro Rubiolo is added to the bench after returning from Rugby Championship duty, with the 21-year-old earning his 17^th cap for Los Pumas last Saturday against world champions South Africa.

Director of rugby Steve Diamond said: “Pedro landed on Monday night and told me he wanted to come straight into training the next morning, which I think says a lot about the guy.

“I’ve not worked with him before because he had a shoulder injury throughout the back end of last season, but the lads tell me he’s an outstanding character and you can see how determined he is to make a positive contribution here.

“We’ve got to remember he’s been travelling for a full day to get back to Newcastle, and he’s just getting up to speed with all our plays. Allied to that, I thought John Hawkins and Kiran McDonald went well last week in the second row, and you’ve got to be fair to the lads when they’ve done that. But yeah, clearly, it’s a boost to have an international lock back in our squad, and I’m sure he’ll have a part to play at the weekend.”

Asked about the wider injury and availability situation, the Falcons boss added: “Brett Connon pulled his groin in the warm-up at Harlequins last week and we’re just waiting on scan results to see the extent of that, but I thought Ethan Grayson did well at fly-half after coming in last-minute.

“Adam Radwan actually passed his head injury assessment but was a little unsteady on his feet so he has been stood down for this weekend under the protocols, but there’s nothing new apart from those two. Seb de Chaves is a couple of weeks away, Kieran Wilkinson is probably three weeks or so and we’re just managing the battle scars that you start pick up once you get into competitive games.”

Determined to record a first win of the season but pleased by a lot of what he has seen so far, Diamond said: “We’re getting incrementally better, and while the win wasn’t ultimately within our grasp last weekend at Harlequins I thought we had enough opportunities to get a losing bonus point.

“So we’re making progress and I think the attitude of the lads has been outstanding, but what I don’t want us to be is a ‘nearly’ team. We can’t be those guys who are known for being plucky but ultimately get nothing out of the game, and that’s the mind-set shift we’re talking about with the squad.

“A lot of the basics we’ve asked the lads to take on board, they’ve done them brilliantly well and I honestly can’t praise them enough for that. But it’s now that extra 5% we need which lies between the ears, and is ultimately the difference between winning and losing.

“We’re creating opportunities, and we identified four occasions at Harlequins where one extra pass would have given us a two-on-one or a three-on two. It’s about giving the players the belief that they can take those chances, and I’ve told them as a group that they won’t get any grief from me if it’s on and they have a go.

“We’re not a box-kicking team. I want us to run, pass and kick, in that order. Clearly there’ll be times when we need to put the boot on it and I’m not saying we should play a loose game all the time, but when the opportunity comes the players have got full rein to strike and go for it.

“It’s easy when you’re sat high up in the stands or in a Monday review meeting when you’ve had two days to look through all the angles, but it’s just about getting the players to identify those opportunities in real time and communicate it to their team-mates so we can quickly get the ball to those areas. Once we start doing that on a more regular basis with the attacking threats we’ve got, we’ll start causing sides a lot of problems.”

Expecting a stern test against the Tigers, Diamond said: “Leicester have brought in a world class coach in Michael Cheika.He’ll obviously have his own ideas that he wants to bring in, but let’s be honest, the acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree where Leicester Tigers are concerned.

“They’ll go to their driving game, they’ll try and exploit cheap penalties by kicking to the corner and they’ve got top-quality players. We’ll have a job on our hands, no two ways about it, but it’s a game I believe we can win.

“Discipline will be a big factor in not giving away those cheap pens which enable them to kick the corners, but we’ve given away the fewest penalties out of any team in the Premiership this season. We’ve been single figures in both games for penalties conceded, and that’s a big step for us considering where we’ve come from.

“We’re definitely getting better, and we’re competitive now. We’ve rightly had to manage things in a sustainable fashion and only a fool would think that makes things easy, but it’s for the right reasons and I’ve got no issues with it.

“I’m here for the long haul to put Newcastle back on the Premiership map. Undoubtedly we’ll have some hard times because that’s just the nature of the beast, but we’ll remain together as a group and continue to put in highly competitive performances for our supporters.”

Newcastle Falcons v Leicester Tigers (Saturday, 5.30pm, Kingston Park, live on TNT Sports)

Newcastle Falcons: 15 Elliott Obatoyinbo, 14 Ben Redshaw, 13 Connor Doherty, 12 Sammy Arnold, 11 Ben Stevenson, 10 Ethan Grayson, 9 Sam Stuart; 1 Adam Brocklebank, 2 Jamie Blamire, 3 Richard Palframan, 4 John Hawkins, 5 Kiran McDonald, 6 Philip van der Walt, 7 Tom Gordon, 8 Callum Chick (captain).

Replacements: 16 Ollie Fletcher, 17 Luan de Bruin, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 Pedro Rubiolo, 20 Freddie Lockwood, 21 Joe Davis, 22 Oli Spencer, 23 Louis Brown.

Not available for selection: Josh Bainbridge,Eduardo Bello, Tim Cardall, Brett Connon, Sebastian de Chaves, Alex Hearle, Cameron Neild, Adam Radwan, Kieran Wilkinson.

Referee: Jack Makepeace.