DAVE Walder returns to the Newcastle Falcons team for the home match against Gloucester on Sunday.

For his first start since suffering a knee injury on January 2 he will be at full back in place of Toby Flood, who has been named at fly half for England Under 21s' match against Ireland in Dublin today.

Scrum half Lee Dickson and hooker Stuart Mackie are on the bench for the Dublin match, so Dickson's place in the Falcons' squad goes to Hall Charlton, returning after a back injury.

There are four other changes to the starting line-up following last weekend's 83-10 hammering at Leicester.

Phil Dowson returns for Semo Sititi at No 8 and will captain the side as Ian Peel, who has been struggling with injury, makes way for James Isaacson at loose head.

Hooker Andy Long and lock Craig Hamilton also return in place of Matt Thompson and Geoff Parling.

Among the replacements is 19-year-old prop David Wilson, who has played for the last three weeks for his home club Westoe following his nine-month lay-off.

There is no place for newly-signed Argentinian international Galo Alvarez Quinones, with Director of Rugby Rob Andrew explaining: "He had a nightmare getting here.

"His flight was diverted to Glasgow, where I might him at 3am and he has been training since in the snow, which he has hardly seen before."

Newcastle are putting their fans on stand-by to help clear the pitch of snow on Sunday morning if necessary. The match will kick off at 1.15 with the Ireland v England match being shown in the bars around the ground afterwards.

* Prospects for local rugby tomorrow are not good, with clubs worried that pitches will be waterlogged if the snow melts.

Darlington Mowden Park plan a pitch inspection at 3pm today ahead of the visit of Fylde in National Three North.

They are waiting to hear from Newcastle Falcons whether they can re-register prop Ed Kalman on Monday's deadline day following his loan to Leeds Tykes for tonight's match against Saracens.

Kalman has played in Mowden's last two matches and without him they will be short of front row cover for their fight against relegation.

Mowden will be hoping to cut down on penalties and yellow cards for the rest of the season as they have gone to the top of the division's sin-bin list.

Although only one has been for foul play, they have been handed 15 yellow cards this season and are one ahead of Blaydon. Fylde and Tynedale have the fewest with five.

Darlington are due to visit Halifax and expect a decision from the National Three North leaders tonight.

If the match is off it will save them from some tricky selection decisions and give players a rest ahead of what they see as the crucial phase of their survival battle.

They entertain three of their relegation rivals in the next four weeks and need to have skipper Paul Lee fit after breaking a bone in a hand last week.

Stockton, fifth from the bottom in North Two East, can pull well clear of trouble by winning at home to Sandal, who are two places and three points below them.

Stockton feel improved discipline and greater concentration on the basics have brought about their recent improvement. They hope to have centre Steve Thornton and winger Richie Brown back after injury.

* St Peter's School, York, face holders Colston's, from Bristol, in the semi-final of the Daily Mail Schools Cup at Castlecroft, Wolverhampton, tomorrow. Colston's have won the event seven times, but the St Peter's team have been together since winning the Under 15 Cup three years ago.

* Durham Under 20s' match against Lancashire, postponed last Sunday, will be held at Sunderland on March 13 (2.15). Their next game is against Northumberland at Tynedale on March 6.

* As part of the Year of the Volunteer, a workshop will be held at Durham City on Wednesday (7pm) with the aim of locating and supporting Club Volunteer Co-ordinators. It will be run by Durham RFU in conjunction with Sport England and further information is available from Durham's Rugby Development Officer Matt Bryan on 07711185214.