NEWCASTLE Falcons declined to play a part in the wish of their Spanish hosts to set up a meeting between Jonny Wilkinson and David Beckham today.

The Falcons have been based about 100km from Madrid since Wednesday as they prepare for their European Challenge Cup first round first leg against VRAC Valladolid.

They will have Jonny's brother, Mark, in the team but had decided prior to their hosts' request to bring the World Cup winner that he should stay behind to rest.

Jonny will reappear in the second leg at Kingston Park next Sunday, when he should be in for an easy ride against a team made up largely of local players, plus two French students.

The fact that Mark Wilkinson and Martin Shaw will be at centre today suggests the Falcons are not expecting a tough time, although Rob Andrew insisted: "We have trained well since we have been here and we will be taking it very seriously.

"We have also left Stuart Grimes behind because we want to give a few people a well-earned break. I want the whole squad to have some action because we have a massive six months coming up.

"We have three big games over Christmas against Bath, Northampton and Harlequins, then we face Montferrand over two legs in this competition if we beat Valladolid. We are not taking them lightly."

The other English clubs involved in this competition are Bath, Saracens, London Irish, Harlequins and Rotherham, while among the French clubs are Brive, former winners of the senior European event, the Heineken Cup.

The Falcons will have a few regulars on the bench in case things are not going well, including centres Jamie Noon and Mark Mayerhofler, plus lock Garath Archer.

Skipper Mark Andrews, who went on for the last 20 minutes of last week's defeat by Wasps, will make his first start for six weeks alongside Craig Hamilton in the second row.

Marius Hurter returns at tight head, with Ian Peel dropping to the bench, while Jon Dunbar replaces Warren Britz in the back row.

James Grindal starts at scrum half and Joe Shaw is at full back as Ben Gollings is with the England Sevens squad in Dubai.

Also in Dubai, as a spectator, is Richard Arnold, whose shoulder injury threatens to keep him out of action with Darlington Mowden Park until the trip to Tynedale in two weeks.

Mowden have brought in Luke Monument at lock for today's National Three North match at Preston Grasshoppers, allowing Tony Irwin to revert to blind side.

Prop Danny Brown returns and there is a question over whether Ian Keeligan will be fit enough to provide cover after risking his back injury for 80 minutes during Brown's absence last week.

The backs are unchanged with winger Andy Foreman expected to start, despite still having some swelling from the jaw injury he suffered last week. Chris Mattison provides the cover.

Darlington are unchanged for their 3pm kick-off at home to Tynedale, with Richie Taylor again starting at lock while Matt Dilworth and Andrew Carphin await their turn on the bench.

Although Tynedale are fifth, the fact that they lost at home to Kendal last week has raised Darlington's hopes of a fourth successive home win.

They will have to beware of conceding penalties as visiting fly half Phil Belgian has a powerful boot, while others to watch out for are winger Paul Boston and No 8 Andrew Murray, who have figured in Scotland development squads.

The seconds have a rare fixture at home to Durham University as they tune up for next week's county cup clash against Mowden Park.

Blaydon are without two former Mowden men in hooker Matt Hall and flanker Shaun Cassidy for the trip to Kendal.

Hall and No 8 James Keany are still suffering from shoulder injuries they suffered in the same match two months ago. Both have attempted comebacks but Hall lasted only ten minutes last week and Keany broke down in training on Thursday. There are fears he could be out for the season.

Back row men James Rennie comes into the squad and Robert Windle will partner Pete Kilburn at centre, with Nick Gandy switching to the wing.

Full back David Dalrymple is National Three North's leading scorer with 141 points and has been named the league's Player of the Month for November.

West Hartlepool will again be without lock Andrew Davies for North Two East match at home to York, who are one place below them.

At a four-hour RFU hearing in Leeds this week, Davies was suspended for a further four weeks on top of the eight he has already served following the incident which left West Park St Helens player Sean Fletcher with a serious eye injury at the end of last season.

The punishment was for dangerous play as the other charge of "intent" was not proven. Davies' record of three previous dismissals was also noted.

* The Tetley's County Championship could be replaced next season by what is called a Super 8 competition and a County Clubs Championship.

The plan is for the former to be contested by regional teams in two pools of four, with the players drawn from divisions one to three.

The pool winners would meet in a final at Twickenham then go on to a European competition involving eight other countries.

The County Clubs Championship would be open to players from level five downwards with 28 teams playing in four regions with the top two from each going into the quarter-finals.