Preview: Sale Sharks v Wasps

Sale’s original starting team showed one change of personnel for the Premiership game against Wasps, with James O’Connor coming into the XV.

O’Connor is at inside centre, with Sam James switching to number 13 in the absence of injured skipper Will Addison. Sam’s brother Luke replaces the Australian international on the bench.

Following the suspension of Denny Solomona, Byron McGuigan wears jersey 14 with TJ Ioane coming onto the bench.

Speaking ahead of the match, Sharks’ director of rugby Steve Diamond said: “It should be a great game. It’s a match between two good sides who play rugby the right way and I think it could be one of those games where it boils down to who makes the least mistakes.

“The pair of us are probably amongst the most entertaining sides in the Premiership which isn’t a bad tag to have. We’re now in the last throes of the season and we have got everything to play for and there’s nothing better to look forward to than a big home game.

“We’ve trained well this week… there’s been good preparation and pretty much everyone is fit bar Will Addison, so we will be looking to put our strongest side out and I think they will be pretty much at full strength too.

“For us, it’s a case of ensuring we try to get the basics right. We need to look to attack in the right areas of the field and to keep the ball, and if we can do that then it all bodes well for what should be a really exciting game.”

Meanwhile, Elliot Daly has overcome a badly dislocated finger to take his place in the Wasps line-up at the AJ Bell Stadium.

The British and Irish Lion was forced from the field midway through the first half during his team’s narrow defeat at Leicester 11 days ago, but has since made a full recovery.

Daly’s selection at outside centre sees Josh Bassett return to the left wing in a back division otherwise unchanged from the pre-Easter defeat at Welford Road.

In the pack, Matt Mullan and Jack Willis switch starting and bench roles with Simon McIntyre and James Haskell, while Kearnan Myall joins skipper Joe Launchbury in the second-row in the absence of ankle injury victim James Gaskell.

England squad hooker Tommy Taylor, who is named among the replacements, is in line to make his first Premiership appearance of the season after recovering from knee and neck injuries.

Director of rugby Dai Young said: “Sale have plenty of threats and we haven’t won there for quite a few years. They are playing better now than ever. We know they’ve got a really decent pack and a very good driving lineout game that brings them lots of field position and points.

“They’ve also got some really exciting backs as they’ve shown in their last couple of games with the amount of points they’ve scored. They’re hot on our heels in the league as well so this is as big a game for them as it is for us.

“The Easter break has allowed us to get a couple fit, we have trained well and are well-prepared for the last block of four vital games.”

Form: Sale Sharks have won their last two Aviva Premiership matches with maximum points but have not achieved three five point wins in a row in the tournament since November 2002. Sale’s only loss in their last five Premiership Rugby encounters at AJ Bell Stadium was 3-13 to Saracens on 16 February. Wasps’ defeat at Leicester in round 18 was only their second defeat in Aviva Premiership Rugby since October. Wasps have won just one of their last five away games in all competitions: 44-22 at Harlequins on 11 February. The last nine fixtures between the two clubs have all been won by the home side on the day whilst Wasps most recent victory on Sale soil was by a single point at Edgeley Park in Premiership Rugby on 1 October 2010. They have lost on all seven previous visits to AJ Bell Stadium in all competitions.

The teams:

Sale Sharks: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Byron McGuigan, 13 Sam James, 12 James O’Connor, 11 Marland Yarde, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Josh Strauss, 7 Ben Curry, 6 Jono Ross (c), 5 Andrei Ostrikov, 4 Bryn Evans, 3 WillGriff John, 2 Rob Webber, 1 Ross Harrison
Replacements: 16 Marc Jones, 17 James Flynn, 18 Alexandru Tarus, 19 Josh Beaumont, 20 Tom Curry, 21 Will Cliff, 22 Luke James, 23 TJ Ioane

Wasps: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Jimmy Gopperth, 11 Josh Bassett, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Dan Robson, 8 Guy Thompson, 7 Thomas Young, 6 Jack Willis, 5 Kearnan Myall, 4 Joe Launchbury (c), 3 Jake Cooper-Woolley, 2 Tom Cruse, 1 Matt Mullan
Replacements: 16 Tommy Taylor, 17 Simon McIntyre, 18 Marty Moore, 19 Will Rowlands, 20 James Haskell, 21 Joe Simpson, 22 Juan De Jongh, 23 Guy Armitage

Date: Friday, April 6
Venue: AJ Bell Stadium
Kick-off: 19:45 BST (18:45 GMT)
Referee: JP Doyle
Assistant referees: Jonathan Healy, Tim Wigglesworth
Television match official: Keith Lewis