Preview: Sale v Gloucester
Ben Foden will start at full-back for Sale when they host Gloucester in the Guinness Premiership at Edgeley Park on Friday.
Ben Foden will start at full-back for Sale when they host Gloucester in the Guinness Premiership at Edgeley Park on Friday.
Foden, who has been out injured since November, makes his first appearance for Sale since deciding to leave the club at the end of the season. Not content with playing at full-back Foden, a scrum-half, will join Northampton at the end of this campaign.
Charlie Hodgson, surplus to requirements with England this weekend, returns at fly-half and is partnered at half-back by Sililo Martens.
“The next three games are crucial for us, they are all at home and we need to win all three, its as simple as that,” said Sale Director of Rugby Philippe Saint Andre.
“They don't come any bigger than Gloucester though, they have led the Premiership since day one. We will have a big crowd in the ground, a great atmosphere and my players need to perform from start to finish with passion and pride.”
Gloucester will hand a first Premiership start to 18-year-old wing Charlie Sharples, with Jack Adams out with a broken nose.
Having come off the bench in last weekend's victory over London Irish Sharples will make his first senior start for Gloucester this Friday.
His inclusion is the only change to the starting line-up that defeated Irish and maintained Gloucester's lead at the top of the Guinness Premiership.
“I think it was important last week that we didn't get too swept away with what happened,” said head coach Dean Ryan.
“I was delighted with how individuals contributed to a really positive team performance.
“It's not possible for 18, 19 or 20-year-olds to come in and get everything right all the time but I do expect them to relish the opportunity and be energised by the experience. The key is whether they can reproduce it over a series of games.”
Form: Sale have now slipped to back-to-back losses in the Guinness Premiership. The Sharks have been defeated only once at Edgeley Park this season despite scoring just 11 tries from their seven Premiership games there so far. Table topping Gloucester have not won away from home in any competition in 2008, but still remain one of the best away sides in the Guinness Premiership with 23 points from their eight trips so far this season. The home side has won the last ten tussles between Sale and Gloucester, whilst Gloucester have lost on all four previous occasions they have visited Edgeley Park.
The Teams:
Sale: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Elvis Seveali'i, 13 Chris Bell, 12 Luke McAlister, 11 Oriol Ripol, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Sililo Martens, 8 Sebastien Chabal, 7 Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Chris Jones, 5 Sean Cox, 4 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe (c), 3 Stuart Turner, 2 Sebastien Bruno, 1 Lionel Faure.
Replacements: 16 Neil Briggs, 17 Eifion Roberts, 18 Dean Schofield, 19 Magnus Lund, 20 Will Cliff, 21 Lee Thomas, 22 Chris Mayor.
Gloucester: 15 James Bailey, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 James Simpson-Daniel, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Mark Foster, 10 Willie Walker, 9 Gareth Cooper, 8 Akapusi Qera, 7 Andy Hazell, 6 Peter Buxton (c), 5 Will James, 4 Dan Tuohy, 3 Jack Forster, 2 Andy Titterrell, 1 Nick Wood.
Replacements: 16 Jeremy Paul, 17 Christian Califano, 18 Jonathan Pendlebury, 19 Luke Narraway, 20 Mike Prendergast, 21 Ryan Lamb, 22 Leon Lloyd.
Date: Friday 14 March, 2008
Kick-off: 19:45 GMT
Venue: Edgeley Park
Match Officials: tba