Team news: Falcons side to face Leicester

Luan de Bruin comes into Newcastle Falcons’ team for Saturday’s trip to his former club, Leicester Tigers. The South African prop packs down on the loose-head side of the scrum as the Falcons end the 2024-25 Gallagher Premiership season at the play-off-chasing Tigers. The 3.05pm kick-off at Mattioli Woods Welford Road sees De Bruin coming in for Adam Brocklebank who is sidelined with a thumb injury, while winger Max Pepper replaces the suspended Ben Stevenson. Captain Callum Chick misses out on one last game for the Falcons after sustaining a calf injury – Freddie Lockwood coming in at No.8.      

Hooker Jamie Blamire leads the side in his final appearance against the team he will join in the summer, with Louis Brown returning from suspension to take up a place on the bench.

Director of rugby Steve Diamond said: “It’s the last hurrah for a lot of these lads, and they’re determined to finish on a positive note.

“They’ve given me everything, and I can’t complain about them. They train hard, put their bodies on the line and their attitude behind the scenes has been great. Clearly the results haven’t been good enough, but we all know the bigger picture.

“We’re probably three or four good players away from being competitive on a regular basis, but there’s hopefully some positivity around the corner which will allow us to settle for a year, get our infrastructure in place and we can progress from there.”

Crediting the Falcons faithful for the manner in which they have stuck by their team, Diamond added: “Our supporters have been magnificent all season, and we owe it to those guys as much as anybody else to put in a competitive performance.

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Friday 30 May 2025Written by: Mark Smith