England duo Marcus Smith and George Ford face off in Six Nations audition

Harlequins have been bolstered by the return of England international duo Joe Marler and Joe Launchbury for their Premiership clash with Sale Sharks on Friday.

The game will be played at a sold-out Twickenham Stoop and as well as the pair’s return, Will Collier and Chandler Cunningham-South also come into the line-up.

The forward pack features a full front-row reshuffle with the return of Marler and Collier alongside Sam Riley at hooker. Launchbury forms a new second-row partnership with Dino Lamb, with Cunningham-South named at openside flanker, alongside Will Evans at blindside and skipper Alex Dombrandt at number eight.

Marcus Smith v George Ford at 10

In the backs, Danny Care and Marcus Smith continue at scrum-half and fly-half, with Rugby World Cup winner Andre Esterhuizen and Will Joseph in the midfield.

Cadan Murley moves to the left wing for this week’s match alongside the returning Nick David on the right wing. Tyrone Green continues in the full-back shirt.

The replacements feature a good mix of talent and experience with academy hooker Nathan Jibulu joining the likes of props Fin Baxter and Dillon Lewis, second-row Irne Herbst and back-row James Chisholm. Scrum-half Will Porter, fly-half Jarrod Evans and utility back Oscar Beard provide plenty of options in attack.

Meanwhile, Sale Sharks boss Alex Sanderson makes just one enforced change to his side as they go in search of a fourth successive win at the Twickenham Stoop.

Simon McIntyre takes over from the injured Bevan Rodd at loosehead prop. There’s also a return to action for Raffi Quirke, who has recovered from a broken jaw to take his place on the replacements bench.

Elsewhere, it’s as you were for Sale, as Luke Cowan-Dickie is named again at hooker, while the league’s top tackler Ernst van Rhyn continues in the back-row.

After making his first start for the club in the win against Bath last weekend, England hooker Cowan-Dickie starts again alongside props McIntyre and Nick Schonert.

Cobus Wiese and Jonny Hill link up again in the second-row and Van Rhyn, captain Ben Curry, and Dan du Preez, who has beaten more defenders than any other forward this season (21), combine again in the back-row.

Scrum-half Gus Warr has George Ford alongside him once again in the half-backs while Rob du Preez teams up with Sam Bedlow in the centres.

The league’s joint top-scorer Arron Reed (five tries), who has made more clean breaks than any other player in the league this season (12), starts with Tom Roebuck and full-back Joe Carpenter in the back three.

Agustin Creevy, Ross Harrison and James Harper are picked as the front-row replacements while Josh Beaumont and Sam Dugdale will cover the rest of the forwards.

Quirke, Sam James and O’Flaherty are the backs replacements.

The teams

Harlequins: 15 Tyrone Green, 14 Nick David, 13 Will Joseph, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Cadan Murley, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Danny Care, 8 Alex Dombrandt (c), 7 Will Evans, 6 Chandler Cunningham-South, 5 Dino Lamb, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Will Collier, 2 Sam Riley, 1 Joe Marler
Replacements: 16 Nathan Jibulu, 17 Fin Baxter, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Irne Herbst, 20 James Chisholm, 21 Will Porter, 22 Jarrod Evans, 23 Oscar Beard

Sale Sharks: 15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Rob du Preez, 12 Sam Bedlow, 11 Arron Reed, 10 George Ford, 9 Gus Warr, 8 Dan du Preez, 7 Ben Curry (c), 6 Ernst van Rhyn, 5 Jonny Hill, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Nick Schonert, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Si McIntyre
Replacements: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Ross Harrison, 18 James Harper, 19 Josh Beaumont, 20 Sam Dugdale, 21 Raffi Quirke, 22 Sam James, 23 Tom O’Flaherty

Venue: Twickenham Stoop
Kick-off: 19:45 GMT
Referee: Luc Ramos
Assistant Referees: Luke Pearce, Gareth Holsgrove
TMO: Patric Dellac

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