Preview - ECC Pool Four, round six

Falcons must defend lead in Brive

Newcastle Falcons know a win in the last round will clinch a top-two ranking for the quarter-finals, but they won't have things all their own way in Brive. The French club are sitting on 17 points, but will need at least a bonus point – if not a victory – against the Falcons to play any further part in this tournament.

REIVERS v L'AQUILA – Netherdale
Saturday, January 21 – 14:00 GMT

Border Reivers coach Steve Bates has brought five new faces into the pack and two into the back division for the final European outing of the season.

Debutant stand-off James King replaces Charlie Hore who moves to the bench. King will join Brendan McKerchar who replaces the rested Chris Cusiter at scrum-half.

Steve Scott comes in at hooker between captain Paul Thomson who has recovered from a neck injury and Bruce Douglas.

Mark Blair has been handed the number 5 shirt with John Dalziel and Andy Rennick getting starting berths in the back-row.

"We feel this is a great opportunity to have a look at James [King]," said Bates. "He's been with us a couple of seasons now but largely through injury we haven't been able to see as much of him as we'd have liked.

"The selection of this weekend’s team is particularly aimed at the pack. We feel a little bit frustrated that we haven't been able to give guys like Steve Scott, John Dalziel, and Andy Rennick more rugby so it’s a great opportunity for them to play."

Border Reivers: 15 Calum MacRae, 14 Stuart Moffat, 13 Ben MacDougall, 12 Garry Law, 11 Nikki Walker, 10 James King, 9 Brendan McKerchar, 8 Andy Rennick, 7 Kelly Brown, 6 John Dalziel, 5 Mark Blair, 4 Scott MacLeod, 3 Bruce Douglas, 2 Steve Scott, 1 Paul Thomson (captain).
Replacements: 16 Will Kay, 17 Matt Parr, 18 Colin Stewart, 19 Geoff Cross, 20 Jonny Weston, 21 Andy Miller, 22 Charlie Hore.

L'Aquila: 15 Martin Acuna, 14 Roberto Mariani, 13 Nicolas Canavosio, 12 Marco Rosa, 11 Santiag Monteagudo, 10 Alberto Di Bernardo, 9 Juan Cruz Legora, 8 Nicolas Brignoni, 7 Ealdo Birchall, 6 Andrea Tagliavento, 5 Fabrizio Parisse, 4 Agustin Cavalieri, 3 Colin Quigley, 2 Antonello Comperti, 1 Andrea Lo Cicero.
Replacements: 16 Luigi Milani, 17 Flavio Tripodi, 18 Stefano Ciancarella, 19 Pierpaolo Rotilio, 20 Francesco Hostie, 21 Vincenzo Zullo, 22 Andrea Brancoli,

Referee: Jean Matheu (France)
Touch judges: Frank Maciello, Akim Hadj Bachir (both France)
Match commissioner: Bill Dunlop (Scotland)

BRIVE v NEWCASTLE FALCONS – Parc Municipal des Sports
Saturday, January 21 – 15:00 (14:00 GMT)

Lock forward Stuart Grimes is back for Newcastle after missing last weekend’s 47-20 win over Border Reivers with a back injury, whilei Mark Mayerhofler makes a return to the matchday squad after a slight Achilles injury saw him miss the Borders triumph.

Having already secured a place in the last eight of the competition by virtue of Sunday’s 47-20 home win over Border Reivers, a victory this weekend would secure a home quarter final with a home semi to follow should they progress.

But going in to Saturday’s encounter, director of rugby Rob Andrew insisted that his side are focusing totally on this match.

“We had a similar situation back in 1997 when we went to Biarritz and lost in the last pool match, so we qualified with a home quarter final,” said Andrew.

“But because we lost in Biarritz we missed out on a top two seed and a home semi-final, so we had to go to Agen in the semi finals and we lost out there.

“What happened eight or nine years ago obviously isn’t uppermost in our thinking, but it just goes to show how important getting a home tie in the quarter final and semi final could be, so we’re putting everything in to this match.

“They’ve only lost one game at home this season, and they’ve beaten Toulouse which is no mean feat, so it’s as big a test as we’ve had in France.

"We know what’s coming, and we know the forward challenge that will be laid down by them, particularly in the driving line outs and such like. We need to be ready for that, and we think we will be.”

As for the absence of fly half Jonny Wilkinson, Andrew added: “He’s trained with us in some of the sessions this week, hasn’t done some of the others and it’s purely a medical decision.

“When the medics come to me and say he’s right, we’ll then consider him for selection, but not before. We aren’t putting a time limit on it, it will happen when it happens.”

Brive: 15 Charly Platek, 14 Farid Sid, 13 Ludovic Valbon, 12 Sébastien Bonetti, 11 Yves Donguy, 10 Maxime Petitjean, 9 Jean-Baptiste Pejoine, 8 Damien Chouly, 7 Jerome Bonvoisin (c), 6 Charl Van Rensburg, 5 Denys Drozdz, 4 Yvan Manhes, 3 Pierre Capdevielle, 2 Julien Campo, 1 Petrisor Toderasc.     
Replacements: 16 Jawad Djoudi, 17 Daniel Rodriguez, 18 Tunufai Tavalea, 19 Simon Azoulai, 20 Tim Clark, 21 Xavier Sadourny, 22 Clément Marienval.

Newcastle Falcons: 15 Matthew Burke, 14 Tom May, 13 Mathew Tait, 12 Jamie Noon, 11 James Hoyle, 10 David Walder, 9 Hall Charlton, 8 Colin Charvis (c), 7 Ben Woods, 6 Owen Finegan, 5 Stuart Grimes, 4 Andy Perry, 3 Robbie Morris, 2 Andy Long, 1 Micky Ward.
Replacements: 17 Mark Wilkinson, 18 Mark Mayerhofler, 19 David Wilson, 20 Matt Thompson, 21 Andy Buist, 22 Luke Gross.

Referee: Hugh Watkins (Wales)
Touch judges: Keri Evans, Matthew Aplin (both Wales)
Match commissioner: Jean Matheu (France)