There’s no doubt about it, any expectations Sale Sharks had before last weekend disappeared to calamitous effect, as they were on the end of a Saracens masterclass, losing 41-3 to the reigning champions. Nevertheless, the first home game of the season sees the visit of Worcester to the AJ Bell Stadium, where Sale will be hoping to get off the mark.
The Warriors experienced a rather different start to the Aviva Premiership season. Chosen to kick off the season, a 13-12 victory over Northampton Saints ensured English top-flight rugby was back with a bang. A dramatic 80th minute Tom Heathcote drop-goal secured the win by a point. However, if the win over Northampton was difficult, the trip to Sale will be just as hard for the newly promoted side.
Sale Sharks have only lost once at home, throughout the entirety of 2015, a two-point defeat to Harlequins, and therefore this makes for a good match up on Friday night.
Steve Diamond makes three changes from the side that was humbled at Saracens on Saturday. Samoan centre Johnny Leota returns from international duty and goes straight into the side, whilst Jonathan Mills comes in at lock and Josh Beaumont is given the nod at number 8. Vadim Cobilas will be making his 100th appearance for the club.
Worcester remain unchanged as coach Dean Ryan looks to build on last weekend’s win. New signing Tevita Cavubati will make his debut off the bench having joined from Ospreys in the summer. Georgian Val Rapava-Ruskin could also play some part after he was a late injury concern last week.
The prop, speaking in the build up to their trip to Sale, stressed the importance of keeping their feet on the ground after last weekend’s victory: “We’re not going to stay away from the fact that we’ve been recently promoted, we’ve got many younger players in the side and we shouldn’t expect to turn up and win every game as we lack a lot of Premiership experience,”
“But last week was an amazing result for the players and for the fans, and we had a lot of belief after a big pre-season.
“Our main objective was to play as well as we can and you never know which way the ball is going to bounce on the ground, so we have to stay humble.
“Sale are a quality side, irrespective of the results over the last couple of weeks. We know there’s no easy game throughout the year, no matter what results we manage to pull off.
“We spoke about what we accomplished last week but we are going to stay humble and they are going to be looking for a positive result as they’re always tough at home.”
Worcester have a woeful record against Sale, losing their last six matches against the Manchester-based side, having not won since 2012. However, you would have to go back to 2008 to find Worcester’s last victory away at Sale, a 17-9 victory at Sale’s then home ground Edgeley Park. Ryan will be hoping his side could put an end to that record and extend their unbeaten run.
Sale: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Tom Arscott, 13 Johnny Leota, 12 Sam Tuitupou, 11 Will Addison, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Chris Cusiter; 1 Ross Harrison, 2 Tommy Taylor, 3 Vadim Cobilas, 4 Bryn Evans, 5 Jonathan Mills, 6 Dan Braid (c), 7 David Seymour, 8 Josh Beaumont.
Replacements: 16 Neil Briggs, 17 James Flynn, 18 Brian Mujati, 19 Andrei Ostrikov, 20 TJ Ioane, 21 Peter Stringer, 22 Nick Macleod, 23 Sam James.
Worcester: 15 Chris Pennell, 14 Tom Biggs, 13 Wynand Olivier, 12 Ryan Mills, 11 Cooper Vuna, 10 Tom Heathcote, 9 Jonny Arr; 1 Na’ama Leleimalefaga, 2 Niall Annett, 3 Nick Schonert, 4 Donncha O’Callaghan, 5 Darren Barry, 6 Phil Dowson, 7 Marco Mama, 8 GJ van Velze (c).
Replacements: 16 Dan George, 17 Val Rapava Ruskin, 18 Joe Rees, 19 Tevita Cavubati, 20 Matt Cox, 21 Charlie Mulchrone, 22 Ryan Lamb, 23 Ben Howard.
