Hooker Scott Lawson will make his 100th competitive appearance for Newcastle Falcons on Friday when they host Gloucester at Kingston Park.
The 36-year-old is in his fifth season with the Kingston Park club, the 46-times-capped Scotland international forming part of a side showing five changes from the one which started last weekend’s match at Wasps.
Three of those come in the back-line, where an all-Argentinean centre pairing of Juan Pablo Socino and Belisario Agulla will be fed by fly-half Joel Hodgson.
Up front Will Witty joins the second row alongside Sean Robinson, who is making his 50th Falcons appearance, while Nili Latu bolsters a reshuffled back row which sees captain Will Welch sliding across to the openside flank.
Speaking ahead of his 100th competitive game in Newcastle colours, Lawson said: “With coming so late in my career it’s something I probably didn’t think would happen when I joined the club four and a half years ago.
“It’s such an attritional game these days which means it can be tough to post big numbers on the appearance board. I’ve been fortunate that I’ve been able to play a lot of games, and I’m honestly delighted to be within touching distance of the hundred.”
Director of rugby Dean Richards hailed his evergreen hooker, saying: “Scotty is a great professional who looks after the detail of his game and delivers a consistent level of performance each time he takes the field. It’s great for him to reach the hundred and I know he’ll be fired up to mark the occasion against one of his former clubs.”
Meanwhile, Gloucester head coach Johan Ackermann has made four changes to his run-on side after last weekend’s win over Saracens.
Three of the changes are in the pack as Gloucester shuffle their resources – James Hanson, Jeremy Thrush and Jake Polledri coming in for Richard Hibbard, Ed Slater and Freddie Clarke respectively.
The final change to the starting line-up sees Henry Purdy replace Henry Trinder on the wing, the latter picking up a knock in training this week.
Ackermann told the local media this week that last weekend’s win over Saracens was a positive step forward for the group but that the trip to Newcastle will create just as tough a challenge.
“It was a good moment, a moment that we have to treasure and enjoy,” he said.
“But, saying that, everything started back to normal on Monday. There’s a massive challenge ahead of us on Friday and one game isn’t going to mean a lot if we don’t back it up.
“A good result always builds confidence, but it wasn’t a perfect game. We showed a lot of heart in a great defensive effort in that first half, and then some better play in the second half. So, there are definitely things to take forward but stuff we have to improve as well.
“We’ve put certain things in place to get over the travel, it is a fair distance on the bus. But the team have shown they can perform at a good level and it’s for us to control what we can control – our standards and how we want to play.
“It will be quite a disappointment if we pitch up there and don’t perform to our standards. But we have to respect that Newcastle aren’t a bad team. You can’t look at the result from last weekend and think you’re going to arrive and get a victory.”
Form: Newcastle Falcons have slipped to three straight defeats in Premiership Rugby since beating London Irish at Kingston Park at the end of September. The Falcons have lost only one of their last seven games at Kingston Park in all tournaments: 13-30 to Leicester Tigers in round 7 of Premiership Rugby. Gloucester’s only defeat in their last five first team games was 24-26 to Leicester at Welford Road in the Anglo-Welsh Cup. Gloucester won their most recent away game in Premiership Rugby, 22-21 at Bath, but have not won successive away games in the competition since the turn of the New Year 2015. The Falcons achieved the Premiership Rugby double over Gloucester in the last campaign for the first time since 2011/12 and have never won three in succession against the Cherry and Whites in the professional era.
The teams:
Newcastle Falcons: 15 Simon Hammersley, 14 Alex Tait, 13 Belisario Agulla, 12 Juan Pablo Socino, 11 Sinoti Sinoti, 10 Joel Hodgson, 9 Sam Stuart, 8 Nili Latu, 7 Will Welch (c), 6 Mark Wilson, 5 Sean Robinson, 4 Will Witty, 3 Jon Welsh, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Rob Vickers
Replacements: 16 Kyle Cooper, 17 Sami Mavinga, 18 Scott Wilson, 19 Calum Green, 20 Gary Graham, 21 Ruaridh Dawson, 22 Toby Flood, 23 Chris Harris
Gloucester: 15 Tom Hudson, 14 Henry Purdy, 13 Andy Symons, 12 Billy Twelvetrees, 11 Ollie Thorley, 10 Billy Burns, 9 Willi Heinz (c), 8 Ruan Ackermann, 7 Lewis Ludlow, 6 Jake Polledri, 5 Jeremy Thrush, 4 Tom Savage, 3 John Afoa, 2 James Hanson, 1 Josh Hohneck
Replacements: 16 Richard Hibbard, 17 Paddy McAllister, 18 Gareth Denman, 19 Ed Slater, 20 Freddie Clarke, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Lloyd Evans, 23 Mark Atkinson
Date: Friday, November 24
Venue: Kingston Park
Kick-off: 19:45 GMT
Referee: JP Doyle
Assistant referees: Tim Wigglesworth, Peter Allan
TMO: Claire Hodnett
The Aviva Premiership continues this weekend with several key players still missing due to the international window. Read about this and more in our latest Betsafe preview.
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