Ernst van Rhyn, Dan du Preez, Si McIntyre and Cobus Wiese all return from injury as Alex Sanderson beefs up his pack for the visit to Kingsholm to face Gloucester on Sunday (KO 3pm, live on TNT Sports).
In the backs, full-back Joe Carpenter is also back in the starting XV after missing the last two games, while Telusa Veainu switches to the wing after Tom Roebuck was called up by England for the Six Nations.
Sharks Director of Rugby Alex Sanderson has picked an experienced front-row to face George Skivington’s men in the final Gallagher Premiership game before the mid-season break.
McIntyre returns from a knee injury and he’ll line up at loosehead prop alongside hooker Agustin Creevy and tighthead Nick Schonert.
In the second-row, Wiese returns after missing the Champions Cup double header and he’ll partner Josh Beaumont with Jonny Hill absent (knee).
The league’s top tackler Van Rhyn is back at blindside flanker, meaning Sam Dugdale switches to openside with Ben Curry away on England duty. After returning from injury as a replacement against La Rochelle, Dan du Preez is fit to start in his familiar number 8 shirt.
With George Ford with England, Gus Warr has captain Rob du Preez for company at half-back and they’ve got the two Sams – Bedlow and James – outside them in the centres.
New Scotland call-up Arron Reed and Veainu start on the wings with Carpenter returning at full-back.
After playing 80 minutes against La Rochelle, loosehead prop Tumy Onasanya will start on the bench, and he’ll cover the front row along with hooker Tommy Taylor and James Harper.
Ben Bamber and Rouban Birch cover the rest of the forwards with Nye Thomas, Tom Curtis and Rekeiti Ma’asi-White making up the rest of the replacements.
Sale Sharks Starting XV:
15. Joe Carpenter, 14. Telusa Veainu, 13. Sam James, 12. Sam Bedlow, 11. Arron Reed, 10. Rob du Preez, 9. Gus Warr, 1. Si McIntyre, 2. Agustin Creevy, 3. Nick Schonert, 4. Cobus Wiese, 5. Josh Beaumont, 6. Ernst van Rhyn, 7. Sam Dugdale, 8. Dan du Preez.
Replacements:
16. Tommy Taylor, 17. Tumy Onasanya, 18. James Harper, 19. Ben Bamber, 20. Rouban Birch, 21. Nye Thomas, 22. Tom Curtis, 23. Rekeiti Ma’asi-White.
- Gloucester have won their last two first team matches, both in the EPCR Challenge Cup, at Edinburgh and at home to Castres and have not won three in succession since October.
- Gloucester have won just one of their last eight Premiership Rugby matches at Kingsholm and that by a solitary point over Harlequins on 14 October.
- Sale Sharks have slipped to four straight defeats in all competitions since beating Saracens 22- 20 at Salford Stadium on 22 December.
- The Sharks have not lost five successive first team matches since 2017.
- Sale have won twice away from home in Premiership Rugby this season, beating Leicester in Round 2 and Bristol in Round 5.
- Sale’s only defeat in their last eight fixtures with Gloucester was by a single point at Kingsholm in October 2021.
- The Sharks have won on four of their last five visits to Kingsholm.
