News

Preview: London Irish v Sale

September 30 2008

Sale Sharks Director of Rugby Philippe Saint Andre has made several changes to his side for their trip to the Madejski Stadium, where they take on London Irish in the Guinness Premiership on Wednesday.

Having played on Friday, and with an EDF Energy game at the weekend, Sale are looking to use their full squad to avoid injuries and player burnout.

Stuart Turner and Sean Cox are the only two in the front five to retain their places from the win over Gloucester. Andrew Sheridan and Neil Briggs return in the front row and Dean Schofield comes into the second row.

Welsh international Dwayne Peel comes in at scrum-half as he continues to rotate with Richard Wigglesworth.

The other two changes see Lee Thomas and Rory Lamont drop to the bench, as Mark Cueto and Chris Bell get a chance at wing and centre respectively.

"After last Friday's win against Gloucester I have rotated my squad as we are in the middle of three games in eight days," Saint Andre said.

"They are a good side, well coached and they will be a difficult side to play against. Their result at Harlequins at the weekend says that they are an eighty minute side, very fit and liable to create scoring chances. They did the double over us last season and that included the final day defeat which cost us a play off place."

Meanwhile, London Irish coach Toby Booth keeps faith with the team that inspired the turnaround in last Saturday's win over Harlequins for Wednesday's Guinness Premiership match. That means that there are five personnel and two positional changes to the line-up of the team that started at the Twickenham Stoop.

Among the backs, Elvis Seveali'i makes his first start at outside centre against his former club. He joins his two fellow countrymen, Seilala Mapusua and Sailosi Tagicakibau, at the heart of the Irish backs. Delon Armitage switches to full-back with Peter Hewat moving to fly-half to complete an attack that scored all of Irish's 28 points last Saturday.

Club captain Bob Casey makes his first start of the season in the second row following his return to action against Harlequins. The other changes to the pack are in the front row where Danie Coetzee and Tonga Lea'aetoa start at hooker and tighthead prop respectively.

"We've decided to reward the team that finished Saturday's game at the Stoop by letting them start against the current league leaders tomorrow evening," said Booth.

"Our players have performed well to date. They've shown a willingness to compete for the full 80 minutes and in doing so have put themselves in a position to take points. That will be important against Sale.

"Like the other eleven Premier Rugby clubs we face the difficult task of playing three tough games in eight days. Squad management is important as we try to maintain the good start we've made to our Guinness Premiership campaign."

Form: London Irish gained the narrowest of victories at Harlequins on Saturday to give them their first win in the Guinness Premiership since the opening day of the season. The Exiles lost their only previous game at Madejski Stadium this campaign - 16-20 to Bath - but have not suffered back to back defeats at Reading in the Premiership since October 2006. Table topping Sale Sharks last week became the first side to go through four successive entire Premiership games without conceding a try. The Sharks try line has not been breached since Seilala Mapusua crossed for London Irish on 10 May - 321 playing minutes ago - Wasps have the only longer defensive tryless run with 390 minutes between 27 December 2000 and 17 March 2001. London Irish have won their last three matches against Sale, whilst the Sharks have won on three of their last four visits to Madejski Stadium.

The Teams:

London Irish: 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Topsy Ojo, 13 Elvis Sevealii, 12 Seilala Mapusua, 11 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 10 Peter Hewat, 9 Paul Hodgson, 8 Chris Hala'Ufia, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Richard Thorpe, 5 Bob Casey (captain), 4 Nick Kennedy, 3 Tonga Lea'aetoa, 2 Danie Coetzee, 1 Alex Corbisiero.

Replacements: 16 Faan Rautenbach, 17 David Paice, 18 Dan Murphy, 19 Gary Johnson, 20 Declan Danaher, 21 Peter Richards, 22 Eoghan Hickey.

Sale Sharks: 15 Mathew Tait, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Chris Bell, 12 Luke McAlister, 11 David Doherty, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Dwayne Peel, 8 Sebastien Chabal, 7 Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe (c), 6 Kristian Ormsby, 5 Sean Cox, 4 Dean Schofield, 3 Stuart Turner, 2 Neil Briggs, 1 Andrew Sheridan.

Replacements: 16 Sebastien Bruno, 17 Eifion Roberts, 18 Jason White, 19 Luke Abrahams, 20 Richard Wigglesworth, 21 Lee Thomas, 22 Rory Lamont.

Date: Wednesday 1 October, 2008

Kick-off: 19:45 BST (18:45 GMT)

Venue: Madejski Stadium

Referee: Ashley Rowden