Sale Sharks have named their squad to face London Irish in round three of the Gallagher Premiership. The Sharks travel to the Brentford Community Stadium to face the Exiles in their state-of-the-art new home on Sunday afternoon, live on BT Sport. (Kick-off 2:30pm)
Director of Rugby Steve Diamond makes five changes to the Sale matchday 23 that faced Newcastle Falcons at Kingston Park last week, as a number of injuries force heavy rotation within the Sharks forwards ahead of Sundays match.
Valeriy Morozov and Akker van der Merwe remain in the starting line-up for Sharks with the only change in the front row being the inclusion of Will-Griff John at tight-head prop for the first time this season.
James Phillips keeps his place in the second row for this weekend’s round three clash with Irish. The premiership stalwart pairs up with ever reliable academy graduate Matt Postlethwaite in what is the second of three back-to-back away games for Sale.
Club Captain Jono Ross returns to action for Sale after his late omission due to sickness last week. Ross moves into Ben Curry’s usual openside flanker position, with Cobus Wiese taking up the blindside role for after a number of injuries in the Sharks back five. Jean-Luc du Preez replaces his twin brother Daniel at number 8.
Faf de Klerk and AJ MacGinty continue in their roles at half-back after two successive starts as a partnership. Rohan Janse van Rensburg and Sam James remain in the midfield outside them with the sole change to the Sharks backline being in the inclusion of Marland Yarde in place of Denny Solomona. Yarde joins Simon Hammersley and Luke James in the Sale back three for the trip to his former team’s new stadium.
Curtis Langdon, Bevan Rodd, Sam Dugdale and Ewan Ashman join Jake Cooper-Woolley, Will Cliff, Robert du Preez and Denny Solomona in a bench mixed with youth and experience.
