Sale Sharks suffer late blow as England hopeful ruled out of Gloucester clash
Sale Sharks scrum-half Raffi Quirke.
Sale Sharks have been forced into a last-minute change ahead of their game against Gloucester, as England international Raffi Quirke has pulled out.
The scrum-half, who won both of his England caps in 2021, has been plagued by injuries in recent years and only returned to action during the Premiership Rugby Cup block in November.
Raffi Quirke out of Sale Sharks clash with Gloucester
Academy graduate Quirke had been in top form since his return and had started in Sale’s last three games. However, he has withdrawn this weekend through ‘injury precaution’.
At the time of writing, it is currently unknown what the injury is.
As a result, Scotland international Gus Warr will occupy the number nine jersey and Tadhg McElroy comes on to the bench instead.
𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗘𝗦 🚨
Gus Warr starts at scrum-half today with Raffi missing out with an injury precaution.
Tadgh McElroy will replace Ethan Caine on the replacements bench. #GLOvSAL | #SharksAreCircling🦈 pic.twitter.com/3TiwLzcedN
— Sale Sharks 🦈 (@SaleSharksRugby) January 4, 2025
Elsewhere, the Sale Sharks starting team remains the same.
Quirke made his Premiership debut for the Sharks in the 2019/20 season, but really burst onto the scene a year later. After two solid campaigns with Sale, Quirke was thrust into the England squad and made his Test debut against Australia.
A week later, he notched his first England try with a fine effort in a famous win over South Africa.
And then the pièce de résistance is Raffi Quirke’s game winning try vs South Africa. England use the same platform to release Joe Marchant. Watch again how Lukhanyo Am overruns Marchant because he is lining up Smith out the back. pic.twitter.com/cWS89EDoe4
— Ben Nurse (@BenNurse8) December 3, 2021
To date, Quirke has made 66 appearances for the Sharks.
Sale Sharks team v Gloucester in full
Sale Sharks: 15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Rob du Preez, 12 Luke James, 11 Tom O’Flaherty, 10 Tom Curtis, 9 Gus Warr, 8 JL du Preez, 7 Ben Curry (c), 6 Tom Curry, 5 Jonny Hill, 4 Ernst van Rhyn, 3 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Bevan Rodd Replacements: 16 Ethan Caine, 17 Si McIntyre, 18 WillGriff John, 19 Josh Beaumont, 20 Dan du Preez, 21 Tadhg McElroy, 22 Sam Bedlow, 23 Sam Dugdale
Venue: Kingsholm
Kick-off: 15:00 GMT
Referee: Jack Makepeace
Assistant Referees: George Selwood, Gareth Holsgrove
TMO: Peter Allan
READ NEXT: England: Six potential debutants in 2025 including ‘generational talent’ and Bath ‘big bopper’
