NEWCASTLE Falcons will get a tantalising glimpse of their star-studded past tonight when Jonny Wilkinson returns to Kingston Park, but head coach Alan Tait is hoping the club will develop similar big-name players in the future.
Wilkinson is part of the Toulon squad for this evening's Amlin Challenge Cup tie, and his first game in the North-East as an opposition player will inevitably evoke memories of more successful days.
As well as the World Cup-winning England international, who gave up a place at Durham University to join Falcons' Academy, Newcastle also helped launch the likes of Toby Flood, Mathew Tait and David Wilson on to the international scene.
Their production line has dried up somewhat in recent years, but as he prepares to embark on a restructuring of the club's Academy following Semore Kurdi's buy-out of former chairman Dave Thompson, Tait is hoping to pave the way for a new generation of Falcons stars.
"The plan is to have players of the calibre of Jonny and Carl (Hayman) in the team going forward, but we have to produce them ourselves," said the Falcons head coach. "That's the first job we have to get right.
"We've got a new Academy system, with a manager and an assistant, to put in place and they have to kick on. Semore is going to back it because he knows that's where our future is.
"That's where we've found the majority of our great players before and maybe that side of things has slipped down a bit in the last few years. It's maybe dropped off a bit, but we need to get our Academy back on track and find some real quality youngsters. We need to produce our own players, and that's an area we definitely need to improve on because it is the foundation of the club."
Tait's more immediate priority is to oversee a win this evening, with Falcons currently level on points with Toulon at the top of the Pool Two table.
The pair lock horns again in the south of France a week on Saturday, with the result of the double-header almost certain to determine who qualifies for the knock-out stages.
Europe's secondary competition is hardly Newcastle's priority given their position at the foot of the Aviva Premiership table, but skipper James Hudson is hoping the forthcoming double-header will help maintain momentum ahead of crucial domestic games with Sale and Northampton over the festive period.
"The way I've put it across to the group is that it's a great opportunity to play in a competition where there isn't the pressure that there is in the Premiership every week," said Hudson. "It's an opportunity for us to really try to improve certain things in our game.
"Hopefully we can try to play rugby with the shackles off a little bit, but at the same time it's about winning games to keep confidence high.
"The first two fixtures in this competition were challenging in their own way, but they were obviously successful for us and that really helped us develop our game.
"That helped build confidence. It's an old clichÉ, but it always helps when you go out and win a game. We're managing to get into that habit, especially at home where we're unbeaten in five games, and that's not something we want to give up easily."
While Toulon have named former Falcons stars Hayman and Wilkinson on their bench for tonight's game, while Tait has made five changes. James Helleur, Luke Eves, Joe Graham, Mark Wilson and Richard Mayhew all slot in.
Falcons: Goosen, Eves, Helleur, Fitzpatrick, Shortland, Gopperth, Pasqualin; Shiells, Graham, Murray, Hudson, van der Heijden, Wilson, Welch, Mayhew. Replacements: Wells, Fearn, Frazier, Tu-ifua, Hogg, Chudley, Pilgrim, Catterick.
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