Taione makes comeback as Falcons face Munster

NEWCASTLE FALCONS have named a strong side for this evening’s (7pm) match against Munster at Thomond Park as Tongan wing Epi Taione makes his comeback from injury.

Taione missed the Middlesex Sevens and Tuesday’s 32-9 win over Connacht with bruised ribs, but after an intensive pre-season he is in prime condition.

He forms part of a team which sees a first start for former Munster hooker Andy Long, while fly half Jonny Wilkinson makes his second successive start after recovering from shoulder and neck problems.

Former All Black Mark Mayerhofler comes up against ex-international team-mate Christian Cullen, while Samoa captain Semo Sititi will make his Falcons debut from the bench.

In the front row, South African Marius Hurter starts at tight head, while a leg injury to lock Luke Gross means that Scottish pair Craig Hamilton and Stuart Grimes get another start together.

The back row is also the same as that which started against Connacht, as Wales captain Colin Charvis packs down at No 8, while Mike McCarthy is on the blindside and Phil Dowson starts at openside.

James Grindal comes in at scrum-half, in a side jointly skippered by Jonny Wilkinson and Ian Peel for the second game in succession. Munster may be without their Irish international contingent for the match, with a defeat last week against London Irish fresh in their minds, But Newcastle director of coaching Rob Andrew insisted: “They will be a bit disappointed at losing to Irish last week, but it’s pretty much their Celtic League side for the start of the season.

“They’ve got international players missing, obviously, but they still have the likes of Christian Cullen, Paul Burke, Rob Henderson and Jim Williams, so it’s not as if they’re a poor side. “

Continued Andrew: “Playing Munster at Thomond Park is just a great end to what has been a fantastic week here in Ireland. The facilities at the University of Limerick have been superb, we’ve trained hard and the players have been really responsive.

“We had a good win against Connacht, but we know there are areas to improve on, which you would expect for a first game of the season. Now we can be very specific about what we want to get better at, and we have our own targets for this game. “

NEWCASTLE FALCONS (v Munster): J Shaw, E Taione, J Noon, M Mayerhofle, M Stephenson, J Wilkinson (joint captain), J Grindal; A Peel, (joint captain) A Long, M Hurter, S Grimes, C Hamilton, M McCarthy, P Dowson, C Charvis.

Replacements: M Ward J Isaacson E Kalman M Thompson A Buist G Parling S Sititi E Williamson H Charlton L Dickson D Walder M Wilkinson M Tait O Phillips.