"Wholesale changes" - Newcastle Falcons confirm 15 departing players

A total of 15 first-team squad members depart with the thanks and best wishes of the club, with ten new signings already announced.

Chairman of rugby Matt Thompson said: “I would like to thank all of the guys who are moving on during the summer and wish them all the best for the future.

“They have given great service to the club, some of them for well over a decade, and I hope they go on to have great success wherever they decide to go.”

Newcastle have so far announced ten new additions to the first-team squad next season under incoming head coach Alex Codling (Oyonnax), with the signings of Josh Bainbridge (Coventry), Louis Brown (Coventry), Bryan Byrne (Bristol Bears), Tim Cardall (Melbourne Rebels), Cameron Hutchison (Edinburgh), John Kelly (Doncaster Knights), Ollie Leatherbarrow (Exeter Chiefs), Murray McCallum (Edinburgh), Kiran McDonald (ex-Munster) and Hugh O’Sullivan (London Irish).

A further first-team signing will be announced at the upcoming fans’ forum on Monday June 12.

Five senior academy players will leave the club during the summer, with James Blackett, Jeremy Civil, Ewan Greenlaw, Chidera Obonna and Charlie Smith all moving on.

Five players have been added to the senior academy squad in the form of England Under-18s internationals Finn Baker, Isaac Keller, Jacob Oliver and Ben Redshaw, as well as Newcastle University’s Adam Scott.

Conrad Cade

Connor Collett

Matthew Dalton

Carl Fearns

Gary Graham

Conor Kenny

Pete Lucock

Tom Marshall

Logovi’i Mulipola

Cameron Nordli-Kelemeti

Greg Peterson

Sean Robinson

Alex Tait

Will Welch

Michael Young.