Full-back Joe Carpenter and hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie return to the Sharks side after injury as Alex Sanderson makes two changes to his team to face Saracens at the StoneX Stadium on Saturday (KO 3:05 KO, live on TNT Sports 1).
After scoring tries in the win against Leicester Tigers, club stalwarts Sam James and Tommy Taylor join the replacements for the round 18 clash as Your Sharks go in search of a fifth consecutive win and a top four place.
Alex has picked a powerful front-row to face the Premiership champions with homegrown props Bevan Rodd and James Harper packing down either side of returning England hooker Cowan-Dickie.
In the second-row, Cobus Wiese teams up once again with fellow South African Hyron Andrews, while the back-row is unchanged with Sam Dugdale and captain Ben Curry flanking JL du Preez at number 8.
Scrum-half Gus Warr starts alongside George Ford at half-back and they’ll have the Manu Tuilagi and Rob du Preez outside them in the centres. Wingers Tom O’Flaherty and Tom Roebuck and full-back Carpenter make up the rest of the XV.
On the replacements bench, Tommy Taylor is joined by props Si McIntyre and WillGriff John. Ben Bamber and Ernst van Rhyn make up the rest of the forwards replacements, while Raffi Quirke, James and Arron Reed will cover the backs.
Speaking in his pre-match media briefing, Alex said he’s expecting a big atmosphere at his former stomping ground.
He said: “It will be fever-pitch emotionally. The game signifies the end of an era given the Saracens players who are moving on. That can affect you and too much emotion can make you over-reach sometimes.
“But they’re not that kind of a team. They’ll lean into it and they’ll want to put on a performance worthy of the lads that are moving on.
“We’ve talked about the occasion it could be and how it’s going to feel. We know it’s going to be test-match energy and intensity. But we’ve turned the focus and the lens towards ourselves.
“They have the ability to win the game in a variety of different ways and we know if we throw something at them, they’ll respond. They’re a smart team and they can find a way to be dominant if we don’t respond in kind.
“Our ability to respond with clarity and calmness to lightning bolts they throw, or things that we haven’t foreseen and haven’t gone our way, aligned with a ruthless physicality, will give us the best chance of getting through to the semi-finals.”
Sale Sharks Starting XV:
15. Joe Carpenter, 14. Tom Roebuck, 13. Rob du Preez, 12. Manu Tuilagi, 11. Tom O’Flaherty, 10. George Ford, 9. Gus Warr, 1. Bevan Rodd, 2. Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3. James Harper, 4. Cobus Wiese, 5. Hyron Andrews, 6. Ben Curry ©, 7. Sam Dugdale, 8. JL du Preez.
Replacements:
16. Tommy Taylor, 17. Si McIntyre, 18. WillGriff John, 19. Ben Bamber, 20. Ernst van Rhyn, 21. Raffi Quirke, 22. Sam James, 23. Arron Reed.
- Saracens only defeat in the last six rounds of Gallagher Premiership Rugby was 30-41 at Northampton on 29 March.
- Saracens only home defeat in any competition was 12-18 to Northampton in Round 8 of Premiership Rugby.
- Sale Sharks have won their last four Gallagher Premiership Rugby fixtures since their 24-42 defeat at Bath in Round 13. The Sharks have not won five in a row in the competition since October 2022.
- Sale have won just three times away from home this season in Premiership Rugby, beating Leicester in Round 2, Bristol in Round 5, and Newcastle in Round 16.
- Saracens only victory in their last three meetings with Sale was in last season’s Premiership Rugby Final at Twickenham Stadium.
- The Sharks have visited StoneX Stadium on a dozen previous occasions in all competitions and won just once: 26-17 in the Premiership Rugby Cup in September 2019.
