Preview: Sale v Gloucester

Gloucester Rugby have made four changes in personnel to their starting line-up for the Aviva Premiership fixture against Sale on Friday.

Gloucester have made four changes in personnel to their starting line-up for their Aviva Premiership fixture against Sale Sharks on Friday.

Many of the Cherry and Whites' competition rivals either have this weekend off or are in European action, which gives them a chance to climb.

Gloucester and Sale square off in a game originally scheduled to take place last December but was postponed due to inclement weather.

Returning to the starting line-up are Olly Morgan, Henry Trinder, Scott Lawson and Dave Attwood. Tim Molenaar moves from outside centre to inside centre while Freddie Burns starts at ten.

Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu is named amongst the replacements and Nicky Robinson misses out due to a hamstring injury picked up against Newcastle last week.

Scott Lawson is a straight swap for Olivier Azam and Dave Attwood replaces Jim Hamilton.

Commenting on the fact that the original fixture was postponed, Head Coach Bryan Redpath feels that it hasn't necessarily worked in Gloucester's favour.

“I think we had less injuries then! But you have to get on with it. It's a big challenge for the squad especially in the back line,” he said.

“The boys coming in have got to put their hands up and understand what an away game mentality is. But the players who have come in recently have stepped up pretty well.

“We've had some good wins away from home this year and we have to make sure that our mental focus and our away mentality are spot on.

“How you approach it, how you conduct yourself in an away environment, with referees, with field position, with control and discipline. That's going to be key to winning away from home.”

Meanwhile, Sale have made four alterations in personell as Andy Tuilagi, Paul Williams and Sean Cox come in for Kyle Tonetti, Mark Cueto and David Seymour respectively.

“This is another tough game for us against one of the form teams in the Premiership,” said Pete Anglesea, whose side will be looking to bounce back from their 53-24 defeat at Northampton last week.

“They are coached by former Sharks captain Bryan Redpath and have a good side who like to play rugby. They have one trophy in the cabinet having won the LV=Cup the other week and I believe they will finish in the top four.

“However if we can play as we did for the first 50 minutes at Northampton last week and cut out the mistakes and tighten up on our discipline we will be okay. We have been hit by injuries and illness this week but the players are looking forward to the challenge.”

Form: The most recent Premiership encounter between the two clubs to have been won by the away side was way back in September 2001 when Gloucester won 44-21 at Heywood Road. Gloucester have never won in their seven previous visits to Edgeley Park. The Sharks have recorded just two Aviva Premiership victories since October. Gloucester's only defeat in any competition since New Year's Day came two weeks ago at Harlequins in the league.

The teams:

Sale: 15 Nick Macleod, 14 Ben Cohen, 13 Chris Bell, 12 Andy Tuilagi, 11 Paul Williams, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Will Cliff, 8 Sisa Koyamaibole, 7 James Gaskell, 6 Sean Cox, 5 Wame Lewaravu, 4 Chris Jones, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Neil Briggs, 1 Eifion Lewis-Roberts.
Replacements: 16 Marc Jones, 17 Lee Imiolek, 18 Simon McIntyre, 19 Nic Rouse, 20 Neil McMillan, 21 Chris Leck, 22 Iain Thornley, 23 Will Addison

Gloucester: 15 Olly Morgan, 14 Jonny May, 13 Henry Trinder, 12 Tim Molenaar, 11 Tom Voyce, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Rory Lawson, 8 Luke Narraway (capt), 7 Akapusi Qera, 6 Alasdair Strokosch, 5 Alex Brown, 4 Dave Attwood, 3 Paul Doran-Jones, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Nick Wood.
Replacements: 16 Olivier Azam, 17 Alasdair Dickinson, 18 Rupert Harden, 19 Will James, 20 Brett Deacon, 21 Jordi Pasqualin, 22 Tim Taylor, 23 Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu.

Date: Friday, April 8
Kick-off: 19:45 (18:45 GMT)
Venue: Edgeley Park
Referee: Dean Richards
Assistant referees: Martin Buck, Paul Burton
Timekeeper: Mark Hamlin
Television match official: Tony Spreadbury