Newcastle v Leicester: Teams

Tait: Back for Newcastle

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Newcastle wing Alex Tait returns to the Falcons' line-up for their Aviva Premiership clash with Leicester on Saturday.

The 23-year-old will be back in action after being a late withdrawal before the 32-15 defeat against Exeter last time out with a hamstring strain.

Tait comes in for Tom Catterick, who drops to the bench, while Newcastle boss Alan Tait otherwise opts against making changes despite the lopsided scoreline against the Chiefs.

"The lads have been buoyant this week and we have had some good training sessions," the coach said.

"The score-line at Exeter didn't do the boys any justice and I think we can draw a lot of positives from those first two matches. Apart from the try, we played some of our best rugby in the first-half against Exeter last week."

Like their opponents, Leicester have lost their two opening matches of the season but will be boosted by the return of prop Julian White for the contest at Kingston Park.

The 38-year-old veteran, who comes in at the expense of Kieran Brooks, will play his first match of the campaign after recovering from knee surgery.

The only other change from the side that lost to Wasps last time out sees Thomas Waldrom brought into the starting line-up at No. 8, with Julian Salvi moving to flanker and Ben Woods dropping to the bench.

The Tigers are still without injury absentees Craig Newby, Jordan Crane, Geoff Parling and Mathew Tait.

Last year's runners-up Leicester are surprisingly still searching for their first win, although they have accumulated two losing bonus points, while Newcastle are on a run of nine straight defeats stretching back to last season.

Newcastle Falcons: 15 Greg Goosen, 14 Luke Fielden, 13 Luke Eves, 12 James Fitzpatrick, 11 Alex Tait, 10 Jimmy Gopperth, 9 Chris Pilgrim, 8 Richard Mayhew, 7 Will Welch, 6 Mark Wilson, 5 Tim Swinson, 4 James Hudson, 3 Ashley Wells, 2 Rob Vickers, 1 Grant Shiells.
Replacements: 16 Joe Graham, 17 Darren Fearn, 18 James Hall, 19 Glen Townson, 20 Ally Hogg, 21 Jordi Pasqualin, 22 Rikki Sheriffe, 23 Tom Catterick.

Leicester Tigers: 15 Scott Hamilton, 14 Matt Smith, 13 Billy Twelvetrees, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Niall Morris, 10 George Ford, 9 James Grindal, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Steve Mafi, 5 George Skivington, 4 Ed Slater, 3 Julian White, 2 George Chuter (capt), 1 Boris Stankovich.
Replacements: 16 Tom Youngs 17 Michael Holford 18 Kieran Brookes 19 Graham Kitchener 20 Ben Woods 21 Mickey Young 22 Jeremy Staunton 23 Andy Forsyth.

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