Newcastle boss John Fletcher insists Saturday's Guinness Premiership trip to champions Leicester will hold no fear for the Falcons.

Fletcher's men arrive at Welford Road buoyed by a 22-19 success against in-form Saracens in their last league away fixture.

Since then they have also seen superstar fly-half Jonny Wilkinson agree a new two-year contract and reached this season's European Challenge Cup quarter-finals.

Leicester though, are still hurting from making an early Heineken Cup exit, while Fletcher still remembers an 83-10 humiliation experienced at Tigers' hands in the east Midlands almost two years ago.

He said: "There will be no surprises down there. You know what you are going to get with Leicester.

"It is just a case of can you get yourself into the game, can you get enough ball to impose your style on to the play and can you get enough points to be in with a shout of winning it with 10 or 15 minutes to go?

"We had a big, big hiding down there a few years ago which was massively embarrassing for us as a club, but since then we have drawn at Welford Road and beaten them a couple of times up here.

"We beat them pretty comfortably at second team level a fortnight ago and, while we do respect them, I wouldn't say we fear them.

"I am sure the same applies if you ask their coach about us, because you are dealing with two good teams. One thing you always get with Leicester is intensity.

"They will come hard at your set-piece and incredibly hard at the tackle area. The breakdown will be contested like it has never been contested before, because that is very much what they are about."

Wilkinson, back in the Falcons line-up after being rested for last weekend's Challenge Cup demolition of Cetransa El Salvador, needs just nine points to reach 2,000 for Newcastle.

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