'Unrecognisable from last year': Newcastle name new-look team

Newcastle Falcons are set to unveil their new centre partnership of Connor Doherty and Sammy Arnold on Friday night against Bristol Bears in the opening round of the Gallagher Premiership at Kingston Park.

The duo have been named to make their starting debuts for the club alongside openside flanker Tom Gordon.

Doherty is on a season-long loan from Sale Sharks, while Arnold arrived from Brive over the summer. Gordon, meanwhile, has crossed the border from Glasgow Warriors.

Yet more debuts could be made from the bench against the Bears, with loosehead Luan de Bruin named among the substitutes alongside 18-year-old scrumhalf Joe Davis.

Captain Callum Chick will also be making his 100th appearance when he leads his team out.

Unfortunately for the Falcons, they have picked up a number of injuries during pre-season, but director of rugby Steve Diamond is positive about the way his team shaped up over the summer.

“We’ve had one pre-season game at Sale where we made six line-breaks and scored six tries from them, so from an attacking point of view we were unrecognisable from last year," Diamond said.

“Alan Dickens coming in as a senior coach has made a big difference because he’s got a wealth of Premiership coaching experience on both sides of the ball, and even though we conceded a few tries we believe the defensive system we’ve put in place is the right one.

"We did take some attrition with a number of injuries, losing the likes of Cam Neild (arm), Kieran Wilkinson (knee) and Alex Hearle (pec), but that’s just the nature of rugby and it means an opportunity for someone else.”

Newcastle XV

15 Elliott Obatoyinbo

14 Adam Radwan

13 Connor Doherty

12 Sammy Arnold

11 Ben Stevenson

10 Brett Connon

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 Freddie Lockwood

20 Adam Scott

21 Joe Davis

22 Louis Brown

23 Ben Redshaw