Luther Burrell to make Newcastle Falcons debut this weekend in friendly

Luther Burrell and Mark Fuser make their Newcastle Falcons debuts on Saturday at Ealing Trailfinders, ending both clubs’ eight-month wait for a game. The behind-closed-doors friendly is a 3pm kick-off at Trailfinders Sports Club, with a live stream available for £10 by visiting here.

The two clubs will meet against Kingston Park Stadium on Friday November 13 (3pm), with the newly-promoted Falcons beginning their Gallagher Premiership season away to Bath on Saturday November 21.

Ealing were the Falcons’ closest rivals during last season’s unbeaten campaign, Newcastle sitting 18 points above the West London outfit when the Championship season was brought to a premature end in March due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Jonathan Sexton and Andy Farrell speak to the press after the walk-off controversy:

Jonathan Sexton and Andy Farrell speak to the press after the walk-off controversy:

Italian international lock Fuser and former England centre Burrell add their vast experience to a squad which could also see debuts for England Under-18s wing Matthew Ward and ex-Doncaster centre Pete Lucock, who have both been included on the bench for a game which will be officiated by Wayne Barnes.

Joel Hodgson steers the ship from fly-half with Adam Radwan on the wing, the flyer having scored during the Falcons’ bonus-point victory at Ealing when they ground out a 26-14 pre-Christmas triumph.

Director of rugby Dean Richards said: “This game has been a long time coming for both teams, and we know Ealing will provide a high standard of opposition over back-to-back matches.

“They made us work extremely hard for every single point on our last visit, and two highly-competitive games will help enable us to find that all-important match sharpness going into the Gallagher Premiership season.

“We’ve had the usual inter-squad games and full-contact training to keep things ticking over, but there’s no substitute for getting out there and trying things against another team.

“The great sadness of course is that our supporters won’t be able to be there in person to see it, but we know they will be following from afar and we appreciate their backing enormously.”

Newcastle Falcons team to face Ealing Trailfinders
15 Tom Arscott
14 Adam Radwan
13 Luther Burrell
12 Joel Matavesi
11 Sinoti Sinoti
10 Joel Hodgson
9 Michael Young (captain)
1 Adam Brocklebank
2 George McGuigan
3 Mark Tampin
4 Greg Peterson
5 Marco Fuser
6 Sean Robinson
7 Connor Collett
8 Gary Graham

Replacements
16 Darren Barry
17 Kyle Cooper
18 Logovi’i Mulipola
19 Rob Farrar
20 Will Welch
21 Matthew War
22 Toby Flood
23 Ben Stevenson
2 Charlie Maddison
3 Mike Daniels
8 Tom Marshall
9 Sam Stuart
12 Pete Lucock
15 Brett Connon

Referee: Wayne Barnes