Luan de Bruin comes into Newcastle Falcons’ team for Saturday’s trip to his former club, Leicester Tigers.
The South African 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.
“They turn up every week, they’re vocal and get behind the lads, and you can’t ask for any more. We’d have loved to have given them more to shout about this season but I think they can see we’re putting everything into it, and if we can add a bit more quality and expertise into the group then we’ll be on the way.
“They were very appreciative towards a number of our departing players at our last home game against Gloucester, with Callum Chick and Jamie Blamire among those playing for the last time at Kingston Park in Falcons colours and getting a great reception.
“Those lads have given loads to this club over the past nine or ten years, and I want to thank them personally for the way in which they’ve led the group. It’s not been easy here, as I’m sure people can appreciate, but when people talk about team spirit they could do a lot worse than look at the way the likes of Chicky and his senior players have held the gang together.
“When I came here 18 months ago I knew it would be difficult. I can’t say we’ve over-achieved because we’re bottom of the league, but I think we’ve managed pretty well with the resources we’ve got. You’ve never heard a whinge out of me about it. I blamed a referee once and got a six-week ban, but I’m as enthused as ever about the future here.
“After Saturday’s game I’m flying to Majorca for a week to top up my tan so I look like an old saddle, and after that I’ll be walking around the Newcastle Quayside in a vest looking forward to next season!”
Newcastle Falcons team v Leicester Tigers (Saturday, 3.05pm, Mattioli Woods Welford Road, live on Discovery+)
15 Elliott Obatoyinbo, 14 Ben Redshaw, 13 Alex Hearle, 12 Sammy Arnold, 11 Max Pepper, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Sam Stuart; 1 Murray McCallum, 2 Jamie Blamire (captain), 3 Luan de Bruin, 4 John Hawkins, 5 Sebastian de Chaves, 6 Cameron Neild, 7 Tom Gordon, 8 Freddie Lockwood.
Replacements: 16 Bryan Byrne, 17 Micky Rewcastle, 18 Callum Hancock, 19 Oscar Usher, 20 Ollie Leatherbarrow, 21 Joe Davis, 22 Oli Spencer, 23 Louis Brown.
Not available for selection: Eduardo Bello, Adam Brocklebank, Tim Cardall, Callum Chick, Max Clark, Connor Doherty, Ollie Fletcher, John Kelly, Kiran McDonald, Jacob Oliver, Richard Palframan, Ben Stevenson, Philip van der Walt, Harrison Wood.