Newcastle Falcons v Gloucester Rugby Sunday 23rd December 3pm
Current Form
� Newcastle thrashed Connacht in the European Challenge Cup last weekend and lie 2nd to Brive in Pool 3 level on points. They are the only English club in this competition not topping their Pool after 4 rounds.
� They have won 3 from 7 in the Guinness Premiership and lie in 8th place in the league table.
� All their 3 wins have come at Kingston Park.
� Gloucester are on fire this season and after completing a double against Bourgoin last Saturday they now top Heineken Pool 2 unbeaten and are looking serious contenders this year.
� They are the only unbeaten team in this year's Heineken Cup ater 4 rounds.
� They also lead the way in the Guinness Premiership with 6 wins from 7 matches and are 1 point clear of West Country rivals Bath.
� Gloucester have won 3 from 4 on the road this season, their only defeat coming at London Irish.
History
� Newcastle and Gloucester have met 20 times in the Premiership since 1997.
� Newcastle have won 7 to Gloucester's 12 with one match drawn.
� Newcastle beat Gloucester in April this year, their first win against them in the last 7 meetings.
� 6 of Newcastle's 7 wins against Gloucester have come at Kingston Park.
Trends and Trivia
� Newcastle have lost their last 3 league matches in succession.
� 10 of Newcastle's 14 tries this season have been scored by the backs and 22 of Gloucester's 24.
� Gloucester have scored the most tries in the Premiership this season.
� Gloucester are the only team to have scored over 200 points this season.
� Matt Burke is Newcastle's leading points scorer this season with 38.
� Ryan Lamb has scored most points for Gloucester with 62.
� Lamb's strike rate of 21/30 - 70% is only 3rd best in the Gloucester ranks after Chris Paterson's 7/8 - 87.5% and Willie Walker's 6/7- 85.71%.
� Lesley Vainikolo is Gloucester's and the league's leading tryscorer with 7 from only 3 appearances.
� Newcastle's Tom May is one of 6 players in joint second on 4 tries.
