Preview: Sale v Leicester
Leicester Tigers welcome back Geordan Murphy, Seru Rabeni and Marcos Ayerza from autumn international duty for Friday's trip to face Sale Sharks in the Guinness Premiership.
Leicester Tigers welcome back Geordan Murphy, Seru Rabeni and Marcos Ayerza from autumn international duty for Friday's trip to face Sale Sharks in the Guinness Premiership.
Jordan Crane, who won his first England cap against South Africa last weekend, also returns in the number eight shirt and Julian White is back in the team at tighthead prop.
“We played well against Harlequins last week, especially in the first half, and that followed a good performance at Bath. Now we have to be consistent and look to improve week by week,” said Tigers coach Heyneke Meyer.
Meanwhile, Sale have welcomed back a host of international players for this weekend's encounter.
With Matthew Tait lining up along side Luke McAlister in midfield, the Sharks side suddenly looks like a dangerous prospect and, with the like of Sebastian Chabal and Jason White in the pack, they will be hoping to get one over Leicester's front five.
“After last week's win at Wasps it is important that keep up the pressure on the top four clubs,” said Sale's Director of Rugby Philippe Saint Andre.
“We welcome back several players this week but Leicester have a strong squad and showed this last week when they beat Harlequins.
“Games between Sale Sharks and Leicester Tigers are always keenly contested and tomorrow evening's game will be no exception.”
Form: Sale ended a four-game losing run in all competitions with their 13-12 victory at Wasps on Sunday. At Edgeley Park the Sharks are on an unwelcome run of four straight defeats since their 23-9 win over Gloucester there in the Guinness Premiership on September 26. The last four games that Leicester Tigers have contested (two at home and two away) have all been won by the home side on the day. The Tigers' most recent away win in the Guinness Premiership was 19-17 at Worcester on September 20. The two teams have already met in the EDF Energy Cup this season with Leicester winning 30-20 at Welford Road on 31 October. Leicester's only previous win in five prior visits to Edgeley Park was 26-25 in the Guinness Premiership on 6 April 2007.
Sale Sharks: 15 Rory Lamont, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Mathew Tait, 12 Luke McAlister, 11 David Doherty, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 JM Fernandez Lobbe, 7 Neil Briggs, 6 Jason White, 5 Dean Schofield, 4 Sebastien Chabal, 3 Eifion Roberts, 2 Marc Jones, 1 Lionel Faure.
Replacements: 16 Stuart Turner, 17 Rob O'Donnell, 18 Brent Cockbain, 19 David Tait, 20 Dwayne Peel, 21 Chris Bell, 22 Andy Tuilagi.
Leicester Tigers: 15 Geordan Murphy, 14 Johne Murphy, 13 Seru Rabeni, 12 Aaron Mauger, 11 Matt Smith, 10 Derick Hougaard, 9 Julien Dupuy, 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Lewis Moody, 6 Brett Deacon, 5 Ben Kay, 4 Martin Corry (c), 3 Dan Cole, 2 George Chuter, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Santiago Bonorino, 18 Marco Wentzel, 19 Craig Newby, 20 Ben Youngs, 21 Tom Varndell, 22 Scott Hamilton.
Date: Friday, November 28
Venue: Edgeley Park
Kick-off: 19:45 GMT
Referee: Chris White
Touch judges: Alan Hughes, Martin Buck
Assessor: Tony Spreadbury
Television match official: David Hudson