News

Preview: Sale v Bath

Thursday 27th March 2008

Pulling the strings: Berne will start at fly-half for Bath on Friday

Bath coach Steve Meehan has opted to start Shaun Berne at fly-half for their Guinness Premiership game against Sale at Edgeley Park on Friday.

Meehan has opted for the Australian-born Berne to direct affairs in the ten jersey, meaning Olly Barkley has to be content with a place on the bench.

"You get to this stage of the season and it's never ideal to have to rest someone but, at the same time, if you don't take an enforced rest then we have seen what happened to someone like Nick Abendanon (who picked up a hamstring injury earlier in the season)," Meehan said.

"We've got to a stage where there are a couple of guys who have pretty much been running covered in Band Aids and we have had our eye on those guys and have been a little concerned about them from a fatigue point of view."

Meehan has named a strong forward pack with England internationals Lee Mears, Matt Stevens, Steve Borthwick, Danny Grewcock and Michael Lipman all starting.

Sale will start with Ben Foden at full-back, with Richard Wigglesworth preferred in the number nine jersey. Luke McAlister will start on the bench having missed training all week with a slight knock, although he has fully recovered now.

In the pack Andrew Sheridan is missing due to an elbow injury, and Sebastien Bruno, who also missed the bulk of training, will start on the bench.

"They beat us at their ground with the last kick off the game and my players still remember that," said Sale Director of Rugby Philippe Saint Andre.

"Bath have been amongst the Premiership leaders all season and we will respect them throughout the game. We beat top of the table Gloucester here a fortnight ago and a win on Friday is our only objective."

Form: Sale Sharks ended a two game losing run in the Guinness Premiership with their 22-16 victory over Gloucester last time out. The Sharks' only home defeat since April was 15-22 to Worcester on 29 February. Following their 19-16 win over London Irish at the Rec on Saturday Bath now top the Premiership table after a full round of games for the first time since season 2003/04. The last four meetings between the two clubs in the Guinness Premiership have gone the way of the home side on the day. Sale won 25-10 when the two sides met at Edgeley Park in the EDF Energy Cup on 2 November, whilst Bath have not won at Edgeley Park in the Premiership since 26 September 2003.

The Teams:

Sale: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Elvis Seveali'i, 13 Chris Bell, 12 Lee Thomas, 11 Oriol Ripol, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Sebastien Chabal, 7 Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Jason White (c), 5 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 4 Chris Jones, 3 Stuart Turner, 2 Neil Briggs, 1 Lionel Faure.
Replacements: 16 Sebastien Bruno, 17 Eifion Roberts, 18 Dean Schofield, 19 Magnus Lund, 20 Will Cliff, 21 Julien Laharrague, 22 Luke McAlister.

Bath: 15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Andrew Higgins, 13 Tom Cheeseman, 12 Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 Shaun Berne, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Chris Goodman, 7 Michael Lipman, 6 Peter Short, 5 Danny Grewcock, 4 Steve Borthwick (c), 3 Duncan Bell, 2 Lee Mears, 1 Matt Stevens.
Replacements: 16 Pieter Dixon, 17 David Flatman, 18 Martin Purdy, 19 Zak Feaunati, 20 Mike Baxter, 21 Alex Crockett, 22 Olly Barkley.

Date: Friday 28 March, 2008
Kick-off: 19:45 GMT
Venue:Edgeley Park
Match officials: tba