Ben Cohen: On the wing for Sale
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Newcastle have handed a debut to fly-half Jeremy Manning as they kick off the new Aviva Premiership season at Sale Sharks on Friday.
The former Munster player starts for the Falcons after shining in pre-season, with last year's Golden Boot winner Jimmy Gopperth restricted to a place on the bench as he recovers from an ankle problem.
Scottish internationals Ally Hogg and Andy Henderson both make their first Aviva Premiership appearances for the club after summer moves from Edinburgh and Montauban respectively, whilst there are also competitive debuts for centre Luke Eves and prop Tim Ryan.
Lock forward James Hudson skippers Newcastle at the venue where they enjoyed a memorable 32-30 victory in the penultimate game of last season.
"We're expecting a very different Sale team from that night," said new head coach Alan Tait.
"They've got a new coach in Mike Brewer who I know from my Scotland days, and they've made a whole number of changes to their playing squad. Yes we had a good win down there towards the end of last season and also the season before, but that was then and it's a fresh start for both teams now.
Explaining the decision to go with a half back pairing of Manning and Chris Pilgrim while Gopperth and Micky Young sit on the bench, Tait revealed: "It's more a case of not taking any unnecessary risks.
"We've gone with the guys who have been fit, training at full intensity and have been involved in all the rugby across the summer. Jimmy has only been coming back from the last three weeks after his ankle injury, while Micky hurt his groin at the Middlesex Sevens and has been working back to full fitness from that. Hall Charlton has been battling to get over a hamstring injury for the last six weeks too, so we have gone with the guys who are at their sharpest. "
Meanwhile, Sale coach Mike Brewer insists he has not put too much pressure on the young shoulders of James Gaskell by naming him as skipper.
"James is the sort of player who can help take us from the start to the end of the project. He can rely on senior players and we can mould him," said Brewer,
Speaking about preparation and the game against Newcastle, Brewer added, "I want our players to do the analysis on the opposition, to think for themselves."
" The players we have here want to play in the Heineken Cup and know they will have to work hard to achieve that. A win tomorrow would give everyone a huge boost and galvanise the whole club."
Form:Sale and Newcastle meet in round one for the fourth time in the last six years, whilst the Sharks have not beaten the Tynesiders since a 14-9 victory at Kingston park on 7 September 2008. The new season begins at Edgeley Park for the second successive year: Sale beat Leicester there 15-12 twelve months ago. The Sharks finished off last campaign with four successive defeats. Newcastle Falcons' only victory in round one of a new Premiership season since 2004 was 33-12 at home to Sale in 2007. The Falcons' most recent away game was also at Edgeley Park, where they beat the Sharks 32-30 in round 21 last season. Newcastle have won on three of their last four visits to Stockport.
The teams:
Sale: 15 Paul Williams, 14 Tom Brady, 13 Kyle Tonetti, 12 Andy Tuilagi, 11 Ben Cohen, 10 Nick Macleod, 9 Dwayne Peel, 8 Sisa Koyamaibole, 7 David Seymour , 6 Carl Fearns, 5 James Gaskell (c), 4 Nic Rouse, 3 Karena Wihongi, 2 Neil Briggs, 1 Andrew Sherian.
Replacements:16 Marc Jones, 17 Aston Croall, 18 Jack Forster, 19 Wame Lewaravu, 20 Sean Cox, 21 Chris Leck, 22 Matty James, 23 Rhys Crane.
Newcastle:15 Alex Tait, 14 Gcobani Bobo, 13 Luke Eves, 12 Andy Henderson, 11 Charlie Amesbury, 10 Jeremy Manning, 9 Chris Pilgrim, 8 Ally Hogg, 7 Will Welch, 6 Brent Wilson, 5 Tim Swinson, 4 James Hudson (c), 3 Tim Ryan, 2 Rob Vickers, 1 Jon Golding.
Replacements:16 Kieran Brookes, 17 Micky Ward, 18 Grant Shiells, 19 Filipo Levi, 20 Redford Pennycook, 21 Micky Young, 22 Jimmy Gopperth, 23 Rob Vickerman.
Date: Friday, September 3
Venue: Edgeley Park
Kick-off: 19.45 BST (18.45 GMT)
Referee: Dean Richards
Comments
5Lock4ward says...
I hope to see Ally Hogg prosper under some solid game time in a new environment and return to the Scotland fold ASAP.
Posted 13:09 02nd September 2010