Newcastle v Leicester: Teams

Newcastle Falcons have made four changes and two positional switches for Friday's Guinness Premiership visit of Leicester Tigers to Kingston Park.

In the front row Matt Thompson replaces Rob Vickers at hooker, while Mark Sorenson enters a reshuffled back five as number eight Adam Balding misses out with injury.

Tim Swinson moves from second row to blindside flanker, with skipper Phil Dowson moving to number eight.

In the backs Hall Charlton starts at scrum-half with Micky Young having picked up a minor knock last weekend at Bath. On the left wing John Rudd returns from suspension.

"A lot of the boys have been carrying some wear and tear these past few weeks, and we have just taken this opportunity to freshen things up a bit," said Falcons director of rugby Steve Bates.

"Micky Young has been arguably our outstanding player since Christmas but we have to manage his workload sensibly, and I'm also looking forward to seeing Hall Charlton get a run from the start."

Corry returns

Meanwhile, Leicester captain Martin Corry returns from suspension to lead the Tigers.

England internationals Tom Croft, Harry Ellis and Toby Flood are named in the starting line-up alongside Martin Castrogiovanni and Geordan Murphy on their return from the Six Nations.

Ayoola Erinle starts at centre after Dan Hipkiss picked up a knock in the win over Saracens last weekend, and the return of Ellis allows Julien Dupuy a rest after starting the last seven games.

"Martin Corry has been training really hard and it's good for us to have him back. He is hungry to play," said Tigers acting head coach Richard Cockerill.

"We have done really well with the guys who have been here over the last five or six weeks and now we have some more options available with the internationals back."

Marcos Ayerza (neck), Benjamin Kayser (neck), Matt Smith (ankle), Marco Wentzel (knee), Jordan Crane (knee), Brett Deacon (foot), Seru Rabeni (knee), Lewis Moody (ankle), Richard Blaze (foot) and Craig Newby (hamstring) are unavailable for selection due to injury.

Newcastle: 15 A Tait, 14 T Visser, 13 J Noon, 12 T Tu'ipulotu, 11 J Rudd, 10 T May, 9 H Charlton; 1 J Golding, 2 M Thompson, 3 C Hayman, 4 G Parling, 5 M Sorenson, 6 T Swinson, 7 B Wilson, 8 P Dowson (capt)
Replacements: 16 R Vickers, 17 D Wilson, 18 A Perry, 19 P Browne, 20 R Winter, 21 M Young, 22 R Miller

Leicester: 15 G Murphy, 14 S Hamilton, 13 A Erinle, 12 A Mauger, 11 A Tuilagi, 10 T Flood, 9 H Ellis; 1 B Stankovich, 2 G Chuter, 3 M Castrogiovanni, 4 L Deacon, 5 B Kay, T Croft, 7 B Woods, 8 Martin Corry (capt)
Replacements: 16 M Davies, 17 D Cole, 18 D Hemingway, 19 B Pienaar, 20 B Youngs, 21 S Vesty, 22 J Murphy