Bristol v Newcastle: Teams

Newcastle director of rugby John Fletcher has pin-pointed David Lemi as the man to stop if his side are to topple Bristol on Sunday.

Lemi topped the Guinness Premiership try scoring charts last season and he is now off the mark for the current campaign after missing the opening weeks due to international duty.

And Fletcher is such a fan of the Samoan winger, that he would pay to watch him.

He said: "Bristol's main strength is in the forwards, but recently they have started to move the ball around a lot more through the backs.

Exciting

"David Lemi was their leading try-scorer last season and in my opinion is arguably the most exciting player in the Guinness Premiership to watch.

"I would certainly pay to see him play in any game, and in the two matches since he's returned from the World Cup he has given their play a new dimension so we will have to keep a close eye on him.

"In their last two outings they defeated a London Irish side which had beaten us easily the week before, and then they should have won last weekend at Harlequins when they suffered a narrow loss, so we know what a good team they are and we've been watching them closely."

Fletcher has turned to All Black prop Joe McDonnell to captain the side after Phil Dowson was ruled out with a shoulder injury.

Dowson's place on the openside flank is taken by Brent Wilson, with Fletcher also making two other changes to the line-up that beat Leeds on October 5.

Mark Mayerhofler has suffered a shoulder injury so is replaced by Adam Dehaty, while scrum half James Grindal comes in for Lee Dickson.

Bristol head coach Richard Hill has given fly-half Jason Strange a start, with Sam Cox dropping to the bench.

David Hill moves to inside centre as a result, while the pack also sees a few changes.

Darren Crompton moves to loosehead prop with Jason Hobson coming in at tighthead and Sean Hohneck gets his first start of the season in the second row.

Hohneck had his appendix removed in the off-season, but has now suitably recovered.

Alfie To'oala will make his first Guinness Premiership start of the campaign at openside flanker.

Reasoning

Hill said: "Jason came on against Harlequins last weekend and looked in really good nick. Playing him alongside David Hill will offer us several options.

"It's also good to welcome back Sean Hohneck. He's had a difficult couple of months since he had his appendix out and lost a lot of weight. He's worked hard to build himself back up and get back to fitness and his lineout skills will be welcome.

"We're also starting Alfie To'oala to give us the extra physicality that he showed when he returned against Quins last weekend."

Bristol has won six of the last seven meetings between the sides since October 2001 and Hill's side holds a strong record against Newcastle at the Memorial Stadium.

Bristol: 15 Josh Taumalolo, 14 Tom Arscott, 13 Rob Higgitt, 12 David Hill, 11 David Lemi, 10 Jason Strange, 9 Brian O'Riordan, 1 Darren Crompton, 2 Scott Linklater, 3 Jason Hobson, 4 Roy Winters, 5 Sean Hohneck, 6 Matt Salter (c), 7 Alfie To'oala, 8 Dan Ward-Smith.
Replacements: 16 David Blaney, 17 Dave Hilton, 18 Mariano Sambucetti, 19 Joe El Abd, 20 Nathan Budgett, 21 Haydn Thomas, 22 Neil Brew

Newcastle: 15 Matthew Burke, 14 Tom May, 13 Adam Dehaty, 12 Joe Shaw, 11 John Rudd, 10 Steve Jones, 9 James Grindal, 1 Joe McDonnell (c), 2 Andy Long, 3 David Wilson, 4 Jason Oakes, 5 Mark Sorenson, 6 Geoff Parling, 7 Brent Wilson, 8 Russell Winter.
Replacements: 16 Matt Thompson, 17 Jon Golding, 18 Andy Perry, 19 Eni Gesinde, 20 Lee Dickson, 21 Tim Visser, 22 Ollie Phillips.