Full-back forced to put foot on pedal; Amesbury will await chance.

Byline: Nick Purewal

CHARLIE Amesbury wants to play full-back at Newcastle Falcons - but the pacy former Harlequin understands and respects the reasons he may well have to keep waiting.

After slotting comfortably into Alex Tait's No 15 role when the regular full-back was out injured, Amesbury is keen on forcing his way into the side at the back on a more consistent basis.

Scoring two tries at Bath was a real thrill for Amesbury as the Falcons shrugged off sluggish early Premiership form to record a famous win, and following that up with a solid effort at home to Worcester boosted his confidence still further. So when Falcons rugby director Steve Bates selected Tom Catterick to start at full-back at Worcester last weekend in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, Amesbury could have been forgiven for coveting that chance to prove himself again.

But Amesbury is not one to get frustrated by an opportunity that never presented itself, because he knows exactly why Bates gave Catterick his head.

The England Under-20 man is certainly one for the future, but given the Falcons' relatively compact squad he will doubtless be called upon as the season progresses.

So while Amesbury would have jumped at the chance to give Bates even more to think about, he knows Catterick and other young Falcons must build up as much experience as possible - and quickly. "I wasn't too disappointed to see Tom Catterick at full-back last weekend," said Amesbury, "he's a great player and he deserves his chances. This is a great tournament to give guys like Tom a chance and it's important that they get used to this level now because come the end of the season we're going to be needing to use those players regularly.

"They need to be blooded at this level, so it was great to see him have a good game, putting in his all against an Aussie legend.

"I enjoyed 15 in the games I played there, I felt like I had a bit more ball in hand, and a bit more time on the ball, so I thought that went well.

"I enjoyed it and would certainly like to play there more, but Alex Tait's a very good player, as is Tom Catterick and if they put in the performances you can't argue.

"And when it gets to a situation like that just being in the starting 15 would make me happy.

"I've come here to play first team rugby so games like this are an excellent chance to show what you can do."

Amesbury's old side Harlequins make their second visit of the season to Kingston Park on Sunday (kick-off 3pm) for the Anglo-Welsh Cup second round. Despite that heavy defeat at Worcester last week, the Falcons can still put themselves in with a shout of semi-final qualification if they send Quins packing empty-handed.

After a promising first-half effort last week, the Falcons fell away, and prey to the driving maul after the break, and Amesbury reckons Newcastle can get the edge over Quins if they rediscover their finishing touch.

"Worcester put out a strong team and we put in a good first half but fell away after that," he said. "So this week we're just going to build on the pluses from last week, iron out the mistakes and hopefully a win's on the cards.

"Alex nearly got over early on in the second half and we were camped on their line for a while, and it would have been great to turn that pressure into points.

"And maybe that was a bit of a turning point in the game, but there's been other times when we've been very clinical.

"Hopefully this week we'll get back to that clinical finishing we have shown recently, so if we can cut out the errors and tidy up what we did last week we should be seeing some tries."

REGIONAL PREVIEW REVVING up for a try-fest might be the obvious preparation for Tynedale this week, but it cuts no cloth with the Corbridge hierarchy, writes NICK PUREWAL. Tynedale entertain lowly Manchester tomorrow (kick-off 2pm) where they will be expected to hand out the visitors' 11th straight National One beating.

Manchester have already conceded more than 1,000 points in 10 games, suffering heavily from the money problems that ravaged their squad last season. With obvious problems in keeping pace with the rest of the division then, they could be forgiven for expecting the worst in the North East this weekend.

But while Tynedale are of course priming themselves to snatch all five points, rugby chairman John Shotton has warned his men not to expect a walkover. "The worst thing we could do is to go into the game expecting we'll win whatever we do," said Shotton. "In any game you've got to do the right things to win, no matter what the standard of the opposition."

Blaydon, meanwhile, face a tough test to add to their four straight wins when they travel to Sedgeley Park.

Andrew Baggett continues at inside centre with Elliot O'Brien at fly-half, and rugb director Tom Rock once again wears No 9. Scrum-half might not be his chosen position, but the Blaydon boss has played the majority of his Crow Trees rugby in the unfamiliar territory. "We know we're in for a tough afternoon, but we have to go there and get at them early on," said Rock, hoping the midfield pairing of Baggett and Paddy Dias can pay further dividend.

"Those two have gone well together in the centres so they get the chance to build on that."

Westoe travel to Leicester Lions in National Two North, while Gateshead host Old Brodleians in North One East, with Morpeth taking on Darlington and Percy Park entertaining Billingham.

Pace-setters Northern and Team Northumbria go head to head in DN1, with Novos hosting Redcar and Gosforth at Wallsend, while North Shields travel to Houghton in DN2, Whitley Bay entertain Barnard Castle, Medicals take on Winlaton and Blyth make the trip to Yarm.

WEEKEND TEAMS TYNEDALE (Manchester, Tynedale Park 2pm): H Smales, A Rogers, C Peace, C Ingall, B Duncan, A Hall, H Peck, P Cole, J Williams, D Jupp, P Southern, D Dickinson, J Graham, K Showler, G MacGilchrist, J Murray, J Cousins, G Beasley, B Frankland. BLAYDON (Sedgeley Park, away): A Dehaty, S Barber, P Dias, A Baggett, Adam McKenzie, E O'Brien, T Rock, R Kalbraier, M Hall (capt), J Clarke, C Wearmouth, A Archibald, S Riddell, K Wood, G Jones. Replacements: Alex McKenzie, D Graham, N Pretorius, P Vinnicombe, A Armstrong. BLYTH (Yarm, away): L Baxter, G Sutherland, S Robinson, S Hall, J Bostock, C Brooks, T Smithson, N Fraser, D Langdown, S Browne, D Baxter, C Turnbull, M Catterall, W Davie, S Krzysiak. Replacements: L Dunwoodie, L Stoker, Kevin Barratt.

CAPTION(S):

PUSHING Charlie Amesbury wants to play on a more consistent basis.