Gloucester v Falcons: Teams

Ryan Lamb and Alex Brown return to Gloucester's starting line-up for Saturday's Premiership meeting with Newcastle.

Stand-off Lamb is back in action after recovering from the shoulder injury he suffered while on England Saxons duty earlier this month.

Brown, meanwhile, will be making his 150th Premiership appearance and his first for six weeks since breaking a bone his arm against Ospreys.

He will partner Will James at lock in a team showing eight changes from last weekend's narrow defeat to Bristol.

Nick Wood is the only member of the front row to keep his place, with Andy Titterrell and Jack Forster replacing Jeremy Paul and Carlos Nieto.

There is one change in the back row where Peter Buxton comes in on the blindside flank and Luke Narraway takes over from Gareth Delve at number eight.

Changes

There are further changes in the backs because of international call-ups. Gareth Cooper partners Lamb at half-back with Anthony Allen and Jack Adams the centre combination.

Will Walker takes over from Iain Balshaw at full-back and Mark Foster replaces Lesley Vainikolo on the wing.

Newcastle Falcons have made six changes to their side ahead of the trip to Kingsholm.

There is a Guinness Premiership debut for England Under-20s international Alex Tait, having made his first senior Falcons appearance from the bench at the Kingsholm back in October.

In his first Newcastle start, the 19-year-old grabbed a hat-trick of tries at Spanish champions Cetransa El Salvador, and takes over in the centres from older brother Mathew who is away on RBS Six Nations duty.

Alex is joined in the Newcastle back-line with centre Tom Dillon and fly-half Steve Jones, while in the pack there is a return for second row Mark Sorenson, who missed last weekend's 16-14 victory over Saracens.

Fellow Kiwi Joe McDonnell packs down at loose head prop in place of England Saxon Jon Golding, with the only other change coming at hooker where Matt Thompson replaces Andy Long.

There is a maiden first team call-up for second row Tim Swinson who makes the bench.

Swinson has been one of the stand-out players for the Falcons Development XV this season and the 21-year-old has been rewarded with a first-team call-up.

Physical

Having included Tait, Jones and Dillon in his back line, director of rugby John Fletcher is confident they are all up to the challenge.

"One thing they will do is fight, because they are all tough kids," he said.

"Yes, they're inexperienced, but there will be no lack of physicality and effort with them in the team."

With Jones returning to the side after helping the Falcons to a successful start to the campaign, Fletcher said: "He has started 12 games this season, of which we have won seven and drawn one, so I have no issues there at all.

"Jonesy has been working hard during his two months in the development team, he's helped them to second in the Guinness 'A' League.

"Likewise Alex Tait and Tom Dillon are training every day with and against Jonny, Toby, Noony and Mat Tait, and they don't look out of place at all.

Heading into Saturday's clash, Fletcher is under no illusions of the size of the task in hand.

"Kingsholm is a tough place to go, and Gloucester are under a lot of pressure after losing last week at Bristol so they will come out all guns blazing.

"We know exactly what's waiting for us, but rather than being intimidated we're actually excited by the prospect of going down there and taking them on.

"There's no question of us going down there for a bonus point or any of that rubbish. We have a lot of respect for Gloucester, but we're there to win."

Gloucester: 15 Willie Walker, 14 James Simpson-Daniel, 13 Jack Adams, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Mark Foster; 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Gareth Cooper; 1 Nick Wood, 2 Andy Titterrell; 3 Jack Forster, 4 Will James, 5 Alex Brown, 6 Peter Buxton (capt), 7 Andy Hazell, 8 Luke Narraway.

Replacements: 16 Olivier Azam, 17 Christian Califano, 18 Jonathan Pendlebury, 19 Akapusi Qera, 20 Mike Prendergast, 21 Ali James, 22 James Bailey.

Newcastle: 15 Tom May, 14 Ollie Phillips, 13 Tom Dillon, 12 Alex Tait, 11 John Rudd, 10 Steve Jones, 9 Lee Dickson, 1 Joe McDonnell, 2 Matt Thompson, 3 Carl Hayman, 4 Andy Perry, 5 Mark Sorenson, 6 Geoff Parling, 7 Ben Woods, 8 Phil Dowson (capt).
Replacements: 16 Andy Long, 17 David Wilson, 18 Tim Swinson, 19 Brent Wilson, 20 James Grindal, 21 Joe Shaw, 22 Tim Visser.