JOSH BARTON makes his competitive debut for Newcastle Falcons tomorrow afternoon when they kick-off the new Gallagher Premiership season at home to Harlequins.

While the footballing authorities have decided to postpone all professional fixtures in the wake of the death of the Queen, the RFU has decided that the rugby programme will continue as usual this weekend.

Barton, a 24-year-old scrum-half who signed from Coventry in the summer, forms part of a Falcons side which sees a 50th club appearance for centre Ben Stevenson.

Prop-forward Phil Brantingham makes his first Premiership start on the loose-head side, with Newcastle welcoming back Sean Robinson from suspension and handing a start to Sebastian de Chaves as the lock begins his second spell with the club.

On the bench, there could be a competitive debut for summer signing Tian Schoeman, the former Bath fly-half who ended an 18-month injury lay-off by appearing as a replacement in last Friday’s 33-29 victory at Doncaster Knights.

Head coach Dave Walder, now in full charge of first-team affairs, said: “Home against Harlequins is a great way to start the season.

“I was at the Gallagher Premiership launch last week in London and they put me up on stage for a Q&A with Tabai Matson from Harlequins and Steve Borthwick from Leicester – I think just out of sympathy for the length of journey I’d had! One of the questions was what’s the beauty of the Premiership, and I said it was the contrasting styles.

“For us, we’re facing Harlequins this weekend with their open running game which has won them a Premiership title two years ago and got them to a semi-final last season, and then in round two we travel to Leicester to face a completely different, but just as successful, approach.

“It’s tough, of course, but we’ve spoken a lot about our attitude and showing people what Newcastle Falcons are all about. The players call it their ‘True North’ mind-set, and it’s things like being positive in our decision-making, the way we talk to each other and everything around the place being about looking forward.

“If we get our attitude right we can give a good account of ourselves, and then go down to Leicester the week after. So yeah, it’s a tough start, but it’s one we’re really looking forward to.”

Relishing the chance to take the lead role, Walder knows the Falcons have work to do in putting behind them the disappointment of how the previous campaign fizzled out.

“It’s no secret that last season we lost momentum with a few bits and pieces going on, but things became clearer during the off-season and we’ve gone on from there,” said the former England fly-half, who was a European Cup, domestic cup and Premiership title winner during his playing days.

“We got more clarity on exactly what the coaching team was going to be, the coaches and players have worked really well together and now here we are on the eve of the season. It’s exciting, and I can’t wait to get going.

“As much as we can say it’s a new coaching set-up in some ways, when you look at myself, Mark Laycock, Micky Ward, Scott MacLeod and Mark Wilson – we’ve all been around the club for years and know what this place is about. We know what’s needed, and the guys have added some new ideas and energy to what we already had in place.”