NEWCASTLE Falcons are back on the trophy trail tomorrow, with director of rugby Steve Bates claiming a European Challenge Cup success would be a fitting reward for his players’ efforts in the second half of the season.

Newcastle travel to Vicarage Road to face Saracens in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals, with a run of seven wins from nine matches having banished any possibility of relegation from the Guinness Premiership.

The Falcons have turned things around dramatically since Christmas, and stand just three wins away from a maiden European success.

A victory in the European Challenge Cup would bring automatic qualification for next season’s Heineken Cup, but while a return to European rugby’s top table would clearly appeal, Bates is keen for his players to lift silverware as a reward for their impressive recent displays.

“People keep talking about securing a European place for next season,” said the Falcons boss. “But for me, there is much more to it than simply achieving Heineken Cup rugby.

“The players want to win a trophy on the back of what they have been doing over the last three months, well all season really, because even when we were losing games we were still building our game towards what we have seen after the New Year.’’ If Newcastle are to progress tomorrow’s performance will have to be a marked improvement on the display they produced when they last visited Vicarage Road in September.

Back then, Falcons slipped to a humiliating 44-14 defeat as Sarries ran in five secondhalf tries.

Bates admits September’s defeat was probably the most painful of the season, but insists Newcastle are a muchchanged side from the outfit that travelled south seven months ago.

“Our league game at Vicarage Road is a massive motivating factor for us,” he said.

“But everyone is in a very positive frame of mind, and you can sometimes just sense when a team is really up for a game.

“Our guys are extremely keen to avenge the 40-odd points we shipped down there last time out, and that is a very useful tool when we come to motivating the players on match day.

“The difference between then and now, I would say, is that we, as a team, look very unlikely to concede anywhere near that number of points defensively.

“Against a full-strength Leicester we only conceded ten, seven of those with the last play, and away at the champions (Wasps) last weekend we only let in 12.

“We are confident that our defence now will prevent a scoreline of that same 40- point magnitude, but having said that, we are also aware that Saracens have a lot of very good players capable of scoring.”

Bates has made three changes to the starting lineup that ran Wasps close last weekend.

Winger Danny Williams returns after missing the last four games with an ankle injury, and will be hoping to add to the five tries he has scored in just eight Guinness Premiership starts since switching codes from rugby league last summer.

The other two changes come in the front row, with David Wilson and Matt Thompson replacing Micky Ward and Rob Vickers respectively.

FALCONS: Tait, Williams, Noon, Tu’ipulotu, Rudd, May, Young; D Wilson, Thompson, Hayman, Parling, Sorenson, Dowson, B Wilson, Balding.

Replacements: Vickers, Ward, Swinson, Winter, Charlton, Miller, Visser.