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TEAM NEWS: CONNON RETURNS TO FACE BEARS
Brett Connon starts for Newcastle Red Bulls on Friday night when Bristol Bears are the Gallagher PREM visitors to Kingston Park.
The fly-half returns for the 7.45pm kick-off, with full-back Josh Hodge starting his first home game for the club.
Murray McCallum and Adam Brocklebank both return at prop, while lock Finn Baker makes his first PREM start.
On the bench there is a return for fit-again back-rower Amanaki Mafi, with head coach Stephen Jones determined to see a response from last week’s loss at Leicester Tigers.
“We fell short in certain aspects last week, and let’s see a response on Friday against Bristol,” said the Welshman.
“Leicester brought a physical game and we made life difficult for ourselves with an early yellow card followed by a 20-minute red, and it’s a huge ask playing with 13 men against a top side.
“We’ve had a good, honest look at ourselves this week, we’ve held a detailed review as to why it happened, and more importantly how we can implement our own style onto the game. So yeah, there was some hard learnings for us, and the main thing is how we now act on the back of it.
“Personal pride is the first place you look, but the great thing is we have an opportunity six days later to make sure we show how good we can be.”
Jones added: “We want to move the ball and ask questions of teams but we have to remember we are in a collision sport, and dominance in the contact area is crucial if we are to play the game we want.
“It will be a very different challenge on Friday because Bristol are a team with high ball movement, looking to recycle the ball quickly and get it early to the width. That’s different to a Leicester who will primarily come through the front door, but it all goes back to your defensive principles.
“From our perspective we have to set quickly in defence and make sure our collisions are good. If we dominate the collisions then we’re in a good place, but we need to do it rather than just talking about it.”
Tickets for Friday’s game are available by clicking here.
Newcastle Red Bulls v Bristol Bears (Friday, 7.45pm, Kingston Park, live on TNT Sports)
15 Josh Hodge, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Alex Hearle, 12 Rhys Beeckmans, 11 Elliott Obatoyinbo, 10 Brett Connon, 9 James Elliott; 1 Adam Brocklebank, 2 Ollie Fletcher, 3 Murray McCallum, 4 Jamie Hodgson, 5 Finn Baker, 6 Freddie Clarke, 7 Tom Christie (captain), 8 Reuben Parsons.
Replacements: 16 Samson Adejimi, 17 Micky Rewcastle, 18 Richard Palframan, 19 John Hawkins, 20 Amanaki Mafi, 21 Sam Stuart, 22 Ben Healy, 23 George Bolam.
Not available for selection: Sammy Arnold, Eduardo Bello, Simón Benítez Cruz, Max Clark, Luan de Bruin, Connor Doherty, Ethan Grayson, Joel Grayson, Callum Hancock, Connor Hancock, Elvis Kitenge-Fuki, Freddie Lockwood, George McGuigan, Cameron Neild, Oli Spencer, Oscar Usher.
Bristol Bears: 15 Rich Lane, 14 Noah Heward, 13 Matias Moroni, 12 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 11 Gabriel Ibitoye, 10 Tom Jordan, 9 Harry Randall; 1 Ellis Genge, 2 Gabriel Oghre, 3 George Kloska, 4 James Dun, 5 Joe Batley, 6 Joe Owen, 7 Fitz Harding (captain), 8 Benjamin Grondona.
Replacements: 16 Harry Thacker, 17 Jake Woolmore, 18 Max Lahiff, 19 George Taylor, 20 Kofi Cripps, 21 Sam Wolstenholme, 22 James Williams, 23 Kalaveti Ravouvou.
Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe.
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