NEWCASTLE Falcons entertain Leicester today, hoping to impress a 10,000 capacity crowd and the Sky TV audience with a similar thriller to Tigers' last visit in early April.

Dave Walder's 80th minute conversion of a try by Jon Dunbar earned the Falcons a 25-25 draw in a rather more enthralling encounter than the last match at Kingston Park against Harlequins two weeks ago.

Leicester were emerging from two years in the doldrums at the time, and their revival brought the Heineken Cup place they craved after they had looked out of the running in mid-season.

The revival has continued and they stand alongside Newcastle on three wins from four games, with the Falcons' director of rugby, Rob Andrew, observing: "The game they lost at Sale is the one we should focus on.

"Sale were the only team to really take the game to them. The other three sat back and allowed Leicester to play their game and if we do that we can forget about winning.

"It's virtually the same pack which played here last April, apart from Brett Deacon and George Chuter. We coped well against them that day and this year we are slightly stronger up front."

Hugh Vyvyan was a tower of strength that day, but he has gone to Saracens and Dunbar to Leeds, so the Falcons need a big game today from their new back row of Colin Charvis, Mike McCarthy and Semo Sititi.

Charvis returns at No 8 in place of Phil Dowson, who has a slight knee injury, while hooker Andy Long comes in for Matt Thompson. Long will face Chuter, who was cited for foul play in last week's win at Northampton and faces a hearing on Tuesday.

After the injuries to Mark Mayerhofler and Joe Shaw, Falcons switch Matt Burke to inside centre with Walder coming in at full back.

Andrew said: "We have so much quality we could make a case for three or four variations in that position. Jonny Wilkinson or Tom May could have played there, but this option causes the least disruption.

"The main lesson we learnt from the defeat at Gloucester was the need to go out and be positive. We did not take the game to Gloucester as much as we could have done.

"It's going to be tight but we know we can trouble Leicester. They look as if they have one last big push in them from Martin Johnson and Neil Back. They have both had great careers and now they don't have international rugby to get in their way. We think this will be a cracker of a contest."

Leicester's last visit witnessed Falcons' Jamie Noon breaking the record for successive appearances in the Premiership, but in the first minute he ran into Freddie Tuilagi and had to be helped off.

Tuilagi has joined Cardiff Blues, but three of his brothers are with the Tigers with winger Alex and back row man Henry expected to feature.

Scrum half Harry Ellis has been earning rave reviews, and will have Hall Charlton in opposition, but Tigers have not had a settled fly half following the departure of Jaco van der Westhuyzen to Japan. Andy Goode, back from Saracens, was first choice but when he was injured 19-year-old academy product Ross Broadfoot made his debut last week.

Walder will be making his first start of the season for the Falcons after being on the bench for the first four games.

"It has obviously been frustrating," said the 26-year-old possessor of four England caps. "But we are in a squad culture now and I appreciate I had a role to play from the bench.

"Now I've got a start and it's a huge chance for me, so I'm really looking forward to it. We have taken a step up in terms of ambition and recruited some top world-class players, which gives us massive strength in depth.

"Matt Burke playing at centre will be interesting. As a team we are going to try to create attacking situations to use what we have in the backs with guys like Tom May, Jamie Noon and Michael Stephenson out wide.

"We know we have to be physical because they try to bully teams, but if we can win that initial battle we will make it easier for ourselves to play."

l West Hartlepool have recalled veteran John Painter to their front row for the North Two East match at Stockton as Brett Cullinane is injured. Flankers Jonny Boatman and Henry Tones have recovered from last week's knocks, but skipper Stuart Bennett is working so Phil Galbraith continues at No 8.