Newcastle v Bath: Teams

Newcastle Falcons have made three changes to the side to host Bath in Guinness Premiership action at Kingston Park on Sunday.

Hall Charlton takes over at scrum-half from Micky Young, while in the pack Adam Balding is sidelined after leaving the field with illness midway through the Falcons' 13-0 defeat to Worcester last Friday.

A reshuffled back row sees Will Welch on the openside flank, with Brent Wilson moving to blindside and Peter Browne switching to number eight.

Fit-again Charlie Amesbury will replace Gcobani Bobo on the wing to complete the changes while Laurence Ovens, who has recovered from a rib injury in time to face his former club, has been named for the bench.

"The result at Worcester didn't go our way last weekend, which was the main thing, but I think there was enough in the performance to suggest that we can be really positive going in to Sunday's game," said director of rugby Steve Bates.

"We made mistakes at crucial times which let the pressure off the opposition, but generally I think we created a lot of good stuff."

Memorable

Falcons have already seen off Bath once this season with a memorable 27-16 bonus point away win in October, but Bates insists his side will not be complacent.

"It was a good game for us down there, but we know that they are a very dangerous side in a really good run of form," he added.

"They scrummaged very well at Saracens last weekend, they've taken some notable scalps and we'll have to be right on our game to beat them. We've shown already this season that we're capable of that, and we're going into Sunday with a lot of belief and confidence in our ability."

Meanwhile, Bath have made one change to their starting XV to make the trip up north, with David Barnes replacing David Flatman at loose-head prop.

Flatman is instead named as a replacement, alongside Lee Mears and David Wilson.

Bath enter the clash on the back of their 16-14 victory against Saracens at Vicarage Road last Sunday, and forwards coach Martin Haag insists there will not be a repeat performance of Newcastle's trip to The Rec last year.

"We have forgotten about it," said Haag.

"They may have scored four tries here but that's all in the past now and we are going to go to Newcastle and hopefully do the same to them. It's irrelevant."

Newcastle: 15 Alex Tait, 14 Danny Williams, 13 Rob Vickerman, 12 Tane Tu'ipulotu, 11 Charlie Amesbury, 10 Jimmy Gopperth, 9 Hall Charlton, 1 Jon Golding, 2 Rob Vickers, 3 Carl Hayman (c), 4 James Hudson, 5 Tim Swinson, 6 Brent Wilson, 7 Will Welch, 8 Peter Browne.

Replacements: 16 Alex Walker, 17 Micky Ward, 18 Laurence Ovens, 19 Mark Sorenson, 20 Josh Afu, 21 Micky Young, 22 Rob Miller, 23 Gcobani Bobo.

Bath: 15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Joe Maddock, 13 Shontayne Hape, 12 Olly Barkley, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 Ryan Davis, 9 Michael Claassens (c), 1 David Barnes, 2 Pieter Dixon, 3 Duncan Bell, 4 Stuart Hooper, 5 Peter Short, 6 Andy Beattie, 7 Julian Salvi, 8 Luke Watson.

Replacements: 16 Lee Mears, 17 David Flatman, 18 David Wilson, 19 Scott Hobson, 20 Jonny Faamatuainu, 21 Scott Bemand, 22 Nicky Little, 23 Jack Cuthbert.