Friday 5 December 2014 19:07, UK
The European Rugby Challenge Cup continues on Friday night with Newcastle hosting Stade Francais, Brive taking on Oyonnax and Rovigo visiting Grenoble.
Newcastle will be looking to solidify their hold on pool 3 when they welcome Stade Francais.
The Falcons are top of the group with nine points, and have made 13 changes from the team that lost to Sale in the Premiership over the weekend.
Adam Powell will captain the team, while Samoan lock Kane Thompson will make his first start for the club after coming off the bench last weekend.
Alex Tait is one of two survivors from Sunday's defeat - moving from full-back to the wing with Simon Hammersley returning to the No 15 jersey - while George McGuigan continues at hooker.
Stade Francais’ Top 14 travails have continued in Europe, where they lost to Newport Gwent Dragons and only managed a narrow win over Bucharest Wolves.
They have picked a strong side to travel to the north east of England, with Springbok Morne Steyn and Wallaby Digby Ioane part of an impressive backline.
Newcastle: 15 Simon Hammersley, 14 Alex Tait, 13 Adam Powell (c), 12 Chris Harris, 11 Noah Cato, 10 Tom Catterick, 9 Warren Fury, 1 Eric Fry, 2 George McGuigan, 3 Kieran Brookes, 4 Kane Thompson, 5 Scott MacLeod, 6 Sean Robinson, 7 Dan Temm, 8 Chris York.
Replacements: 16 Rob Vickers, 17 Alex Rogers, 18 Scott Wilson, 19 Dom Barrow, 20 Ben Morris, 21 Ruki Tipuna, 22 Rory Clegg, 23 Tom Penny
Stade Français: 15 Paul Williams, 14 Jérémy Sinzelle, 13 Herman Meyer Bosman, 12 Krisnan Inu, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Julien Tomas, 1 Santiago Botta, 2 Aled De Malmanche, 3 Davit Kubriashvili, 4 Paul Gabrillagues, 5 Gerhard Mostert, 6 Nicolas Garrault, 7 Pierre Rabadan (c), 8 Jono Ross
Replacements: 16 Zurabi Zhvania, 17 Romain Frou, 18 Adrien Oleon, 19 Julien Nibert, 20 Matthieu Ugena, 21 Jerome Fillol, 22 Vincent Mallet, 23 Benjamin Dumas
Oyonnax travel to Stade Amédée Domenech knowing they will have to do the double over Brive to have any chance of making the quarter-finals.
Scrum-half Fabien Cibray will captain the team and hope to get the best out of a forward pack that includes young prop Antoine Guillamon, who joins Clément Jullien and Soane Tonga'uiha in the front-row.
Brive have rung the changes to the side that lost to Stade Francais in the Top 14 – flankers Hugues Briatte and Poutasi Luafutu are the only survivors from the forwards while Alfi Mafi retains his place at full-back. Luafutu skippers the side from the side of the scrum.
Brive: 15 Alfi Mafi, 14 Elia Radikedike, 13 Chris Tuatara, 12 Andrew Mailei, 11 Baptiste Delage, 10 Romain Sola, 9 Damien Neveu, 1 Johannes Coetzee, 2 Louis Acosta, 3 Kevin Buys, 4 Tjiuee Uanivi, 5 Russlan Boukerou, 6 Hugues Briatte, 7 Poutasi Luafutu (c), 8 Fabien Sanconnie.
Replacements: 16 Francois Da Ros, 17 Damien Lavergne, 18 Anton Peikrishvili, 19 Victor Lebas, 20 Fabien Laurent, 21 Thomas Sanchou, 22 Atila Septar, 23 Venione Voretamaya
Oyonnax: 15 Maxime Le Bourhis, 14 Jean-Francois Coux, 13 Guillaume Bousses, 12 Alexandra Luatua, 11 Dug Codjo, 10 Adriaan Smit, 9 Fabien Cibray (c), 1 Soane Tonga'uiha, 2 Clément Jullien, 3 Antoine Guillamon, 4 Geoffrey Fabbri, 5 Damien Lagrange, 6 Guillaume Bernad, 7 Christophe Andre, 8 Pedrie Wannenburg.
Replacements: 16 Jody Jenneker, 17 Lukas Rapant, 18 Ruaan Du Preez, 19 Patrick Sobela, 20 Yohan Domenech, 21 Arthur Aziza, 22 Pierre Aguillon, 23 Leon Power.
Grenoble will need maximum points against Rovigo if they want to keep their European campaign alive but have made 11 changes to the side that beat Toulouse in the Top 14.
Benjamin Thiery moves to full-back with Alipate Ratini coming in on the wing, while Jordan Michallet replaces Jonathan Wisniewski at fly-half. Up front, only prop Dayna Edwards retains his place from last week.
Grenoble: 15 Benjamin Thiery (c), 14 Alipate Ratini, 13 Xavier Mignot, 12 Jackson Willison, 11 Robinson Caire, 10 Jordan Michallet, 9 James Hart, 1 Rémy Hugues, 2 Laurent Bouchet, 3 Dayna Edwards, 4 Thibault Rey, 5 Kevin Goze, 6 Mahamadou Diaby, 7 Louis Marrou, 8 Florian Faure,
Replacements: 16 Loick Jammes, 17 Alexandre Dardet, 18 Jono Owen, 19 Geoffroy Messina, 20 Lilian Saseras, 21 Clément Gelin, 22 Chris Farrell, 23 Albertus Buckle
Rovigo: 15 Billy Patrick Ngawini, 14 Peter Pavanello, 13 Ross Stewart McCann, 12 Francesco Menon, 11 Lorenzo Lubian, 10 Davide Farolini, 9 Marco Frati, 1 Alessandro Borsi, 2 Luke Mahoney, 3 Massimiliano Ravalle, 4 Giacomo Riedo, 5 Jean-François Montauriol, 6 Emiliano Caffini, 7 Edoardo Lubian, 8 Andrea De Marchi.
Replacements: 16 Enrico Manghi, 17 Renzo Balboni, 18 Gheorghe Gajion, 19 Andrea Pozzi, 20 Edoardo Ruffolo, 21 Steven Bortolussi, 22 Luciano Javier Rodriguez, 23 Denis Majstorovic
