Newcastle v Wasps: Teams

Newcastle's interim director of rugby Steve Bates has rung the changes for the visit of Wasps despite his side beating Leicester last time out.

An end-of season run of three games in a week has forced Bates to rotate his squad, with Bates making eight changes to his line up.

Micky Ward and Matt Thompson are called into the front row to replace Jon Goulding and Andy Long, while Mark Sorenson has recovered from injury to take his place in the second row.

Also in the pack, Russell Winter and Brent Wilson team up with captain Phil Dowson in a new-look back row.

In the backs, Hall Charlton starts at scrum-half, while Bates has re-jigged his backline. Ollie Phillips starts on the wing, Mathew Tait wears the No.13 jersey, Tom May moves to full-back and Steve Jones is named at fly-half.

Bates also hands youth a chance on the bench with England Students No.8 Peter Browne and England Under-20s fly half Rob Miller in reserve.

Rotate

London Wasps have also been forced to rotate their squad for the match, with director of rugby Ian McGeechan making a number of changes for the must-win clash.

The 25-17 defeat to Gloucester on Sunday saw Wasps drop out of the play-off places, however a bonus point win from their game in hand will go a long way to seeing them finish in the top four - with already relegated Leeds their final opponents in the regular season.

In the backs, Wasps have shuffled the line-up with Riki Flutey moving to full back, Josh Lewsey switching to the wing and Dominic Waldouck coming into the centres.

In the forwards, Pat Barnard has recovering into time to team up with Tim Payne and Joe Ward in the front row.

George Skivington and Richard Birkett are named in the second row, while James Haskell and John Hart join Tom Rees in the back row.

Wasps do have a wealth of experience on the bench with four full internationals in the shape of Simon Shaw, Joe Worsley, Jeremy Staunton and Mark van Gisbergen.

Newcastle: 15 Tom May, 14 Ollie Phillips, 13 Mathew Tait, 12 Tim Visser, 11 John Rudd, 10 Steve Jones, 9 Hall Charlton, 1 Micky Ward, 2 Matt Thompson, 3 Carl Hayman, 4 Andy Perry, 5 Mark Sorenson, 6 Phil Dowson (c), 7 Brent Wilson, 8 Russell Winter.
Replacements: 16 Rob Vickers, 17 David Wilson, 18 Geoff Parling, 19 Ed Williamson, 20 Peter Browne, 21 Micky Young, 22 Rob Miller.

Wasps: 15 Riki Flutey, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Fraser Waters, 12 Dominic Waldouck, 11 Josh Lewsey, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Eoin Reddan, 1 Tim Payne, 2 Joe Ward, 3 Pat Barnard,4 George Skivington,5 Richard Birkett,6 James Haskell, 7 Tom Rees, 8 John Hart (c).
Replacements: 16 James Buckland, 17 Tom French, 18 Simon Shaw, 19 Joe Worsley, 20 Mark McMillan, 21 Jeremy Staunton, 22 Mark van Gisbergen