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Newcastle v Leicester
Venue: Kingston Park Date: Friday, 27 March Kick-off: 2000
Matt Thompson replaces Rob Vickers at hooker for Newcastle, and Mark Sorenson comes in at number eight as Adam Balding misses out through injury.
Hall Charlton starts at scrum-half as Micky Young is injured and left winger John Rudd returns from suspension.
Leicester captain Martin Corry returns from suspension and Ayoola Erinle starts at centre in place of the injured Dan Hipkiss.
England stars Tom Croft, Harry Ellis and Toby Flood are also back in action.
Falcons centre Jamie Noon believes the atmosphere at Kingston Park and home advantage can be crucial.
Their run of five games without defeat came to an end at Bath last week, but Noon is confident they can return to winning ways against Tigers.
"No-one likes to come this far north," he told BBC Radio Newcastle.
"We're going to go out there and give it to them, we're going to take the game to them as much as we can."
The table-topping Tigers have a couple of former Falcons players in their side, in flanker Ben Woods and England fly-half Flood.
And Noon, who has partnered Flood at centre for Falcons during his career says the team will put sentiment to one side during the game.
"It'll be nice to see them, a lot has been made of that," he said.
"It's just going to be a normal game for us, and if they happen to be in the way then so be it."
Noon's current colleague in the midfield is New Zealander Tane Tu'ipulotu, who has started to show his true form in a Falcons shirt.
And the 29-year-old showed the spirit in the camp is high with a glowing reference of his recent displays, and a wry dig at the former Otago man's haircut.
"Some of the lines he ran (against Bath) and the attacking options he offered were great," he said.
"His hair is getting bigger now, and I think it's working to his advantage, defenders are going with the hair, and he's pulls it back in late and sees the hole.
"He's going really well, and as a team we're giving him more of an opportunity."
Newcastle: Tait, Visser, Noon, Tu'ipulotu, Rudd, May, Charlton; Golding, Thompson, Hayman, Parling, Sorenson, Swinson, Wilson, Dowson (capt).
Replacements: Vickers, Wilson, Perry, Browne, Winter, Young, Miller.
Leicester: Murphy, Hamilton, Erinle, Mauger, Tuilagi, Flood, Ellis; Stankovich, Chuter, Castrogiovanni, Deacon, Kay, Croft, Woods, Corry (capt).
Replacements: Davies, Cole, Hemingway, Pienaar, Youngs, Vesty, Murphy.
BBC Sport
