[Sport] European Challenge Cup: Newcastle Falcons v Cardiff Blues (Fri)

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Cory Hill returns from Autumn Nations Cup duty to captain the Welsh side from lock, with Dillon Lewis, Seb Davies and Shane Lewis-Hughes also starting.Newcastle give centre Pete Lucock and flankers Josh Basham and Rob Farrar their first starts for the club.The English side also change their entire front-row and back three from their last Gallagher Premiership game.Adam Brocklebank, Jamie Blamire and Mark Tampin all earn front-row starting spots after impressing from the bench during the Falcons' unbeaten start to the league season following promotion back to the English top flight, with full-back Alex Tait, Tom Arscott and George Wacokecoke coming into the back three.Homegrown fly-half Joel Hodgson captains the Falcons, although the bench sees a first outing of the season for club captain Mark Wilson following his recovery from injury.Kyle Cooper could be set for his first competitive outing at prop after making the switch from hooker, England Students cap Bailey Ransom is in line for his first-team debut off the bench, while Tonga's Cooper Vuna is also among the reserves just over a year after sustaining a serious shoulder injury on his debut.Blues player tests positive for Covid-19Blues switch flanker Josh Turnbull to the openside, with Sam Moore pulling on the number eight jersey.Tomos Williams and Jarrod Evans continue at half-back for the visitors, while Ben Thomas and Garyn Smith are at centre with Hallam Amos returning to full-back.A Blues squad member tested positive for Covid-19 this week and is self-isolating along with another individual identified as a close contact, but there have been no further cases reported.Cardiff Blues head coach John Mulvihill said: "It's great to welcome some of our Wales boys to the squad this weekend and they have brought a lot of enthusiasm and energy to training this week."They not only bring further quality and experience to drive our standards but guys like Cory are also big leaders for us."We were all disappointed by our recent loss to Glasgow but ... we have done well in the Challenge Cup previously and the boys are looking forward to the challenge of taking on a Newcastle Falcons team flying high in the English Premiership."Newcastle Falcons defence coach Nick Easter said: "Moving into another competition keeps things fresh and I expect Cardiff Blues to come up strong."The players all know what's expected of them from a work-rate, skill and game-understanding perspective, and I'm looking forward to seeing how we go."With three wins from three (in the Premiership) it couldn't have gone much better, but with that comes a heightened level of analysis and a more forensic eye when teams are preparing to play against us."The great thing is we have a bunch of guys with a load of grit and no little talent, which isn't a bad place to be."Newcastle Falcons: A Tait; G Wacokecoke, P Lucock, J Matavesi, T Arscott; J Hodgson (capt), S Stuart; A Brocklebank, J Blamire, M Tampin, D Barry, W Montgomery, R Farrar, J Basham, T Marshall.Replacements: C Maddison, K Cooper, R Ah You, B Ransom, M Wilson, L Schreuder, C Vuna, B Connon.Cardiff Blues: H Amos; O Lane, G Smith, B Thomas, A Summerhill; J Evans, T Williams; B Thyer, K Dacey, D Lewis, S Davies, C Hill (capt), S Lewis-Hughes, J Turnbull, S Moore.Replacements: I Harris, R Carré, S Andrews, B Murphy, G Bradley, L Williams, H Millard, M MorganReferee: Ludovic Cayre (France)Assistant referees: Hamish Smales (England); John Meredith (England)TMO: Graham Hughes (England)