Bates defends Falcons selection

Bates is treating the LV= Cup as seriously as possible

Newcastle director of rugby Steve Bates believes his squad selection is showing respect to the LV= Cup ahead of the visit to Worcester on Saturday.

Some clubs such as Llanelli have named development squads for the competition, but Falcons will feature a number of first-teamers among their line-up.

"We have a small squad that we have to look after," Bates told BBC Newcastle.

"We don't have the numbers of players to put out a development team, but we have rested a few players."

The competition, won by Cardiff Blues against a lacklustre Gloucester last season, comes at a time where the Premiership, Celtic Leagues and European competitions are all in full swing.

But Bates sees the extra fixtures as an ideal opportunity to blood players on the fringes of the first XV, as well as a string of talented youngsters - some of whom the England Saxons coach believes will impress the visiting crowd at Sixways.

"It's about saying to other guys who train really hard, made good contributions but perhaps haven't had the same opportunities, that this is an opportunity for you," he said.

"They [young players] are all very exciting and all very good, otherwise they wouldn't be here in the first place,

"It's an opportunity to see people like Tom Catterick, Mark Wilson, who is a player who's come up through our academy and we've been looking at this season, Pete Browne hasn't had all the rugby and he's very exciting.

"There's lots of really good stuff, and we're all really looking forward to it."

Coincidentally Falcons met Worcester in the Premiership last weekend, winning 14-3 at Kingston Park.