Billy Millard has made six changes to his Harlequins side that beat Gloucester last weekend at Twickenham, with Marcus Smith and Danny Care the headline omission’s.
The England international half-backs are rotated out of the side to travel to Kingston Park, with Will Porter and Will Edwards starting in their place.
They aren’t the only English international players missing for Quins this weekend, as they will be without club cult hero Joe Marler. Marler is set to have an MRI scan on an injury to his arm picked up in Big Game 15. The charismatic prop is replaced by Fin Baxter.
Baxter is the only change in the front-row, as Jack Walker and Will Collier keep their places in the side. Irne Herbst and George Hammond form a fresh second-row partnership with the experienced lock Joe Launchbury moved to the bench. James Chisholm, Will Evans and captain Alex Dombrandt will link up in the back-row again this week.
In the back division, the afore mentioned Will Porter and Will Edwards start in the half-backs. Andre Esterhuizen and Oscar Beard impressed at HQ last week and will be looking for more of the same in the midfield. The back three from last week remains the same as Cameron Anderson, Nick David and Tyrone Green all start.
On the bench, youngsters Chandler Cunningham-South and Louis Lynagh are the pick of the bunch.
Commenting on the team selection this week, Millard said: “We have a lot of respect for Newcastle. It’s been a massive week preparing for the challenge on Friday night. It’s always a unique and tough match at Kingston Park and we know we’ll need to be at our best to get the result.”
Harlequins team news in full:
Starting 15: 15 Tyrone Green, 14 Nick David, 13 Oscar Beard, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Cameron Anderson, 10 Will Edwards, 9 Will Porter, 1 Fin Baxter, 2 Jack Walker, 3 Will Collier, 4 Irne Herbst, 5 George Hammond, 6 James Chisholm, 7 Will Evans, 8 Alex Dombrandt (Captain). Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
Replacements:Â 16 Sam Riley, 17 Jordan Els, 18 Lovejoy Chawatama, 19 Joe Launchbury, 20 Chandler Cunningham-South, 21 Max Green, 22 Lennox Anyanwu, 23 Louis Lynagh.
