Newcastle Falcons team to face Exeter Chiefs
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Joe Davis makes his first start for Newcastle Falcons on Saturday when they travel to Exeter Chiefs in Gallagher Premiership action.
The 19-year-old scrum-half has scored two tries in 11 appearances for the Falcons in his first year out of school, with the former Barnard Castle pupil having also recently made his England Under-20s debut.
He comes in as one of six changes for the Sandy Park clash, with both Newcastle and Exeter looking for their third league win of the season.
Connor Doherty replaces the injured Sammy Arnold at outside centre, with fit-again winger Ben Stevenson returning to the line-up. John Hawkins and Sebastian de Chaves replace the injured pair of Philip van der Walt and Kieran McDonald in the second row, with Richard Palframan starting at tight-head, having last week scored his first try for the Falcons.
Cameron Neild, another of last week’s try-scorers against former club Sale Sharks, makes his 100th Premiership appearance, with director of rugby Steve Diamond keen to record a home-and-away double over the Chiefs, who were beaten 24-18 on Tyneside back in October.
The director of rugby said: “The lads are aware of the significance of playing Exeter, with them being the next team above us in the league.
“We’ve both won two games in the Premiership but they’ve picked up a lot of bonus points, which we haven’t, and that’s been the difference. We did well to beat them when they came up to Newcastle in the autumn, and we’ve got to do it again.
“Exeter look like they’re playing a bit more rugby in terms of moving the ball around, but just like us they’ve had a difficult year in terms of getting results. I’d expect it to be a fairly even contest, and if we’re in the mix going into the last quarter we need to be clinical in finishing them off.”
Searching for key improvements after last weekend’s home loss against Sale Sharks, Diamond said: “We had 50% territory and possession against a good Sale side, but errors cost us. Quality teams will open you up when you do that, and we’ll have to be at our best at Exeter to come away with the win.
“We’ve got a very simple game plan put together by the coaching staff and senior players, and when we implement it properly it works. What you can’t legislate for is three very basic defensive errors like we produced last weekend, and if you’re playing to a system then you’ve got to stick to it and make your tackles.
“Training has been good, and we’re not reactionary up here. We’ve got a process and a consistency to our preparation that we believe in, and we’re not going to throw all of that out of the window.”
Newcastle Falcons team v Exeter Chiefs (Saturday, 3pm, Sandy Park, live on Discovery+)
15 Elliott Obatoyinbo, 14 Alex Hearle, 13 Connor Doherty, 12 Max Clark, 11 Ben Stevenson, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Joe Davis; 1 Adam Brocklebank, 2 Jamie Blamire, 3 Richard Palframan, 4 John Hawkins, 5 Sebastian de Chaves, 6 Freddie Lockwood, 7 Cameron Neild, 8 Callum Chick (captain).
Replacements: 16 Ollie Fletcher, 17 Micky Rewcastle, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 Adam Scott, 20 Ollie Leatherbarrow, 21 Sam Stuart, 22 Kieran Wilkinson, 23 Oli Spencer.
Not available for selection: Sammy Arnold, Eduardo Bello, Tim Cardall, Luan de Bruin, Tom Gordon, John Kelly, Kiran McDonald, Jacob Oliver, Max Pepper, Ben Redshaw, Philip van der Walt.
