Preview: Sale Sharks v London Irish
Sale Sharks have made just one change to their starting XV for Friday's clash with London Irish at Edgeley Park.
Sale Sharks have made just one change to their starting XV for Friday's Aiviva Premiership clash with London Irish at Edgeley Park.
Sharks narrowly lost their opening Aviva Premiership game at Worcester last weekend but director Steve Diamond remains
“Both Leicester and Saracens lost at the weekend too and lets be honest its not a six week competition we are involved in here, its played over 22 rounds. There were plenty of positives to take out of last weeks game,” said Diamond.
In teams news, prop Henry Thomas starts ahead of Vadim Cobilas, who drops to the bench.
Meanwhile London Irish have made five changes and one positional change to their side.
New Zealand international Clarke Dermody returns to the front row to captain the side alongside Leo Halavatau. Alex Gray will start at openside flanker with Kieran Roche and Chris Hala'ufia joining him in the back row.
Daniel Bowden moves from inside centre to fly-half and will partner Darren Allinson, who comes in at scrum-half. Steve Shingler will start at inside centre.
“The effort and endeavour that the squad have put in this week has been impressive. Sale is never an easy place to go even when they are missing 25 per cent of their squad. We look forward to the challenge,”said London Irish head coach Toby Booth.
Form: Sale Sharks were beaten at Worcester Warriors last Saturday but have never begun a Premiership campaign with back to back defeats. The Sharks have now suffered four straight defeats and have not lost five in a row in the competition since season 2006/07.
London Irish were defeated by Harlequins at Twickenham on Saturday – their third successive loss in Aviva Premiership Rugby. The Exiles' only away win in any competition since last October was 34-20 over Sale at the Reebok Stadium on 16 April.
The Sharks have beaten London Irish just once in the Premiership since October 2006: 14-8 at Edgeley Park on 9 January 2009.
The teams:
Sale Sharks:15 Rob Miller, 14 Tom Brady, 13 Andrew Higgins, 12 Will Addison, 11 Joaquin Tuculet, 10 Nick Macleod, 9 Dwayne Peel, 8 Mark Easter, 7 David Seymour (c), 6 James Gaskell, 5 Fraser McKenzie, 4 Kearnan Myall, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Joe Ward, 1 Lee Imiolek.
Replacements: 16 Neil Briggs, 17 Aston Croall, 18 Henry Thomas, 19 Tom Holmes, 20 Scott Mathie, 21 Jordan Davies, 22 Kyle Tonetti, 23 Charlie Amesbury.
London Irish: 15 Tom Homer; 14 Topsy Ojo, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Steve Shingler, 11 Marland Yarde, 10 Dan Bowden, 9 Darren Allinson, 8 Chris Hala'ufia, 7 Alex Gray, 6 Kieran Roche, 5 Matt Garvey, 4 Nick Kennedy, 3 Leo Halavatau, 2 David Paice, 1 Clarke Dermody (c).
Replacements: 16 James Buckland; 17 Max Lahiff; 18Mark George; 19 Tom Alexander; 20 Ed Siggery; 21 Adam Thompstone; 22 Guy Armitage; 23 Paul Hodgson
Date: Friday, September 9
Venue: Edgeley Park
Kick-off: 19:45 BST (18:45 GMT)