Planet Rugby

Preview: Sale v Harlequins

21st February 2013 12:22

Maurie Fa Asavalu of Harlequins is tackled by Rob Miller and Mark Cueto of Sale

On the Quins flank: Maurie Fa'Asavalu

Premiership champions Harlequins have made two changes to the starting line-up that defeated Leicester Tigers last weekend for their clash at Sale.

In the backs, Karl Dickson returns to start at scrum-half for Danny Care who is on England duty alongside Mike Brown, Joe Marler and Chris Robshaw.

Ben Botica continues at fly-half while Nick Evans recovers from an ankle injury which ruled him out of last week's fixture. Evans will be fit to return next week against the Exeter Chiefs.

In the forwards, Tom Guest has not fully recovered from a knock picked up during the win against Leicester, so captain Nick Easter returns to the back-row alongside Maurie Fa'asavalu and Luke Wallace.

With Botica starting, Rory Clegg returns from Leeds and is named among the replacements.

Meanwhile, Sale Sharks are hoping to maintain their winning run that started four games ago with a win over the Scarlets in the LV= Cup.

Since then, the Sharks have been to Wasps and inflicted their first defeat at Adams Park this season and added the scalps of Exeter Chiefs and London Welsh.

Harlequins however are probably the toughest test yet, having won their last five away games. Their last defeat away from the Stoop was last November when they lost 18-21 to Bath at The Rec.

Cameron Shepherd will play at 15 for Sale as Rob Miller has failed a fitness test.

Sale Sharks: 15 Cameron Shepherd, 14 Charlie Amesbury, 13 Jonny Leota, 12 Sammy Tuitupou, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Will Cliff, 8 James Gaskell, 7 David Seymour (c), 6 Dan Braid, 5 Kearnan Myall, 4 Fraser McKenzie, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Tommy Taylor, 1 Ross Harrison.
Replacements: 16 Marc Jones, 17 Eifion Lewis-Roberts, 18 Tony Buckley, 19 Tom Holmes, 20 Richie Vernon, 21 Cillian Willis, 22 Nick Macleod, 23 Will Addison.

Harlequins: 15 Ross Chisholm, 14 Tom Williams, 13 Matt Hopper, 12 Jordan Turner-Hall, 11 Ugo Monye, 10 Ben Botica, 9 Karl Dickson, 8 Nick Easter (c), 7 Luke Wallace, 6 Maurie Fa'asavalu, 5 George Robson, 4 Charlie Matthews, 3 James Johnston, 2 Joe Gray, 1 Mark Lambert.
Replacements: 16 Rob Buchanan, 17 Darryl Marfo, 18 Will Collier, 19 Sam Twomey, 20 Joe Trayfoot, 21 Jordan Burns, 22 Rory Clegg, 23 George Lowe.

Kick-off 20:00
Venue: Salford City Stadium
Referee: Martin Fox
Assistant referees: Robin Goodliffe, Gareth Copsey
Assessor: Brian Campsall
Television match official: Tony Turner

Comments

Be the first to comment on this story..


Character Count : 0/1900

Forthcoming Fixtures
FixtureDetails
All times are local
International Match
Saturday , June 22
New Zealand vs France08:35
Scotland vs Italy14:15
South Africa vs Samoa17:15
Sunday , June 23
Fiji vs Tonga12:10
Japan vs USA14:10
More International Match fixtures
British & Irish Lions
Saturday , June 22
Australia vs British & Irish Lions11:05
Tuesday , June 25
Melbourne Rebels vs British & Irish Lions10:40
More British & Irish Lions fixtures
Recent Results
FixtureDetails
All times are local
International Match
Wednesday, June 19
Fiji 35 - 10 USAFiji vs USA Report
Japan 16 - 13 CanadaJapan vs Canada Report
More International Match results
British & Irish Lions
Tuesday , June 18
Brumbies 14 - 12 British & Irish LionsBrumbies vs British & Irish Lions Report
More British & Irish Lions results
International Match
Sunday , June 16
Canada 14 - 40 IrelandCanada vs Ireland Report
Saturday , June 15
Japan 23 - 8 WalesJapan vs Wales Report
Samoa 39 - 10 ItalySamoa vs Italy Report
New Zealand 30 - 0 FranceNew Zealand vs France Report
Argentina 26 - 51 EnglandArgentina vs England Report
South Africa 30 - 17 ScotlandSouth Africa vs Scotland Report
More International Match results
British & Irish Lions
Waratahs 17 - 47 British & Irish LionsWaratahs vs British & Irish Lions Report
More British & Irish Lions results
International Match
Friday , June 14
USA 9 - 18 TongaUSA vs Tonga Report
More International Match results
British & Irish Lions
Tuesday , June 11
NSW-Queensland Country 0 - 64 British & Irish LionsNSW-Queensland Country vs British & Irish Lions Report
More British & Irish Lions results
International Match
Sunday , June 9
USA 12 - 15 IrelandUSA vs Ireland Report
More International Match results
Super Rugby
Western Force 13 - 28 WaratahsWestern Force vs Waratahs Report
More Super Rugby results
International Match
Saturday , June 8
USA 12 - 15 Ireland
Japan 18 - 22 WalesJapan vs Wales Report
New Zealand 23 - 13 FranceNew Zealand vs France Report
Samoa 27 - 17 Scotland
Canada 36 - 27 Tonga
Argentina 3 - 32 EnglandArgentina vs England Report
South Africa 44 - 10 ItalySouth Africa vs Italy Report
Scotland 17 - 27 SamoaScotland vs Samoa Report
More International Match results
British & Irish Lions
Reds 12 - 22 British & Irish LionsReds vs British & Irish Lions Report
More British & Irish Lions results
Super Rugby
Friday , June 7
Brumbies 39 - 17 Melbourne RebelsBrumbies vs Melbourne Rebels Report
More Super Rugby results
International Match
Wednesday, June 5
Fiji 18 - 20 Canada
More International Match results