Tom O’Flaherty, Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, Gus Warr and Hyron Andrews return to the Sharks side to face Doncaster Knights in the penultimate pool match of this season’s Premiership Rugby Cup.
After scoring on his Sharks debut, England U20s Ollie Davies starts his first home game, while lock Alex Groves features in a Sale XV for the first time since undergoing open heart surgery in February 2024. Read more about Alex’s return to fitness in our matchday programme.
Senior Academy Coach Gareth Harris makes one change to the front-row after last weekend’s win at Caldy as Bevan Rodd returns from England camp to start in place of Simon McIntyre. The loosehead lines up with hooker Tadgh McElroy and Cambridge RUFC trialist Jake Bridges.
Former Bristol Academy lock Groves and Andrews combine in a towering second-row with academy trio Sam Dugdale, Tristan Woodman and Rouban Birch once again making up a dynamic back-row.
Scotland scrum-half Warr and captain Tom Curtis are the half-back pairing and they’ll have Ma’asi-White and Joe Bedlow outside them in the centres.
Wingers Alex Wills and O’Flaherty and full-back Davies combine in the back-three.
On the bench, Harry Thompson, Tumy Onasanya and Swansea University trialist Tom Furtado-Mills are the front-row replacements with Huw Davies and Seb Kelly the other forwards on the bench.
Nye Thomas, Sam Bedlow and Obi Ene make up the rest of the replacements.
Sale Sharks Starting XV:
15. Ollie Davies, 14. Tom O’Flaherty, 13. Joe Bedlow, 12. Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, 11. Alex Wills, 10. Tom Curtis ©, 9. Gus Warr, 8. Rouban Birch, 7. Tristan Woodman, 6. Sam Dugdale, 5. Hyron Andrews, 4. Alex Groves, 3. Jake Bridges, 2. Tadgh McElroy, 1. Bevan Rodd
Replacements:
16. Harry Thompson, 17. Tumy Onasanya, 18. Tom Furtado-Mills, 19. Huw Davies, 20. Seb Kelly, 21. Nye Thomas, 22. Sam Bedlow, 23. Obi Ene.
Match officials:
Referee: Joe James
Assistant referee 1: Andrew Jackson
Assistant referee 2: Jamie Leahy
TMO: Peter Allan
