Jones called on by Falcons to replace Flood at fly half

With Toby Flood joining Jonny Wilkinson at the World Cup, Jones is handed an early chance following his return to the club after playing in Scotland.

John Rudd returns on the left wing after the ankle injury which forced his late withdrawal from last Sunday's 33-12 win over Sale Sharks.

Centre Mark Mayerhofler (hand) and lock Andy Buist (shoulder) were both injured against Sale, so Tom Dillon and Andy Perry take over.

On the bench there is a return for South African No.8 Russell Winter after neck trouble.

Flood was last Sunday's man of the match, but Director of Rugby John Fletcher is not unduly concerned about his absence.

"Toby kicked well and got us into good positions, but if you look at his handling and distribution he only had an OK game and there was still plenty for him to work on," he said.

"A lot of the attention was on Toby afterwards, but we had big performances from a lot of the backs, including Tom May, James Grindal and Matt Burke, and from a pack which won solid ball and made a load of dominant tackles.

"If you'd watched us train this week you might think that England had taken the wrong player, because Steve Jones has been absolutely sensational. He's been flying around all week."

London Irish did the double over the Falcons last year and Fletcher added: "It's always tough down there because traditionally they fight and they work hard, but over the last two years they have added bags of pace. Their back three is the quickest in the Premiership, and it should be a good test for us.

"We can beat anybody, and I feel we're a very underestimated team. But our league position over the past few years doesn't lie and we have to add consistency to our list of qualities to take us on to the next level, so that's where the focus is right now."

Newcastle Falcons: Matthew Burke, Tom May, Tom Dillon, Joe Shaw, John Rudd, Steve Jones, James Grindal, Joe McDonnell, Matt Thompson, Micky Ward, Andy Perry, Mark Sorenson, Geoff Parling, Ben Woods, Phil Dowson (capt)

Blaydon hand a debut to former Newcastle Development XV and Mowden Park hooker Mark Darlington for their tough match away to National Two promotion favourites Otley.

He replaces shoulder injury victim Matt Hall, while skipper Dave Guthrie is also injured and with Paul Clark unavailable Selwyn St Bernard moves up from the back row to partner Dave Whitehead at lock.

James Kyle makes his first start of the season, partnering his brother Dan at half back.

Mowden Park have two Falcons Academy products, Phil Dawson and Alex Tait, making their debuts away to Three North leaders Tynedale.

Dawson, who played in his preferred position of open side for Darlington last season, is named at No 6 in an all-Newcastle back row with Rob Fahrenheim on the other flank and Ed Williamson at No 8.

They also have Aaron Myers on the bench after playing for England in an Aussie Rules competition in Germany.

Paul Begovich is rested after taking a battering last week and the glut of back row men sees Paul Vinnicombe move up to partner Iain Robinson at lock.

Lawrence Oliver returns on the wing with Andy Foreman reverting to scrum half as Rob Stewart has a knee problem.

Tait is at full back with Iain Dixon moving up to centre in place of Martin Featherstone. Danny Brown is on the bench after becoming a father this week.

The hosts are severely depleted for the North One clash at Blackwell Meadows of brothers Lee and Dave Richardson, respective captains of Darlington and Middlesbrough.

Having lost 18 players before the start of the season, the Darlington casualty list now includes stalwart prop Joe Oselton, while hooker Rob Goddard is unavailable. Scott McGrew will hook, propped by Mark Cammiss and Bill Smith with long-serving Ali Carter providing back-up on the bench.

David Andrew is also among the replacements and will be keen to get on against his original club should 18-year-old Brian Thwaites find the going tough against Peter Wright.

Others ruled out are Liam O'Connell, Tom Bivens, Chris Palesci, Matt Dillworth, Dave Birkin, Dave Glendenning, Russell Hayworth, Adam Kibirige, Alex Lyneton and Mike Stowe,

Former Boro lock Dave Hinchley, who was hardly able to breathe last week because of a rib injury, has made a full recovery and will play.

Rory Wood comes in at fly half for his first start of the season, with Richardson moving to outside centre.

Boro include 40-year-old fly half Paul Lee and flanker Martin Howe, who joined them from Darlington last season. Their only change brings in Jack Aldus at No 8 for Richie Barker, who could be out for two weeks with an ankle injury.

Chris Webb is available but has to settle for a place on the bench with Iain Bradford staying at lock.