Preview: Sale v Toulouse
January 22 2010
Sale have named their starting line-up to face Toulouse in a huge Heineken Cup clash at Edgeley Park on Sunday.
Director of Rugby, Kingsley Jones has been hit with a blow in that he will be without both Dwayne Peel and David Seymour due to injury, with Richard Wigglesworth and Luke Abraham coming in at scrum-half and openside respectively.
Elsewhere and David Doherty gets a rare start on the wing in the absence of Ben Cohen while Johnny Kennedy is at inside centre and former England U18 tighthead Martin Halsall is given another opportunity in the number three jersey.
"We needed to work hard this week and get back on the grass after all the snow and prepare well for what is a massive game," said Jones.
"It's an opportunity to put things straight from last week. The guys want to play for their countries in the next few weeks and it's their last chance to put their hand up in front of the International coaches.
"Also for the club; and for the supporters it's going to be a great day out, and we need to perform well and get the right result."
Meanwhile, les Rouge et Noir have named another star-studded XV while their bench is equally strong to make up a squad that boasts an incredible 20 internationals.
Guy Noves has opted not to start Shaun Sowerby, Byron Kelleher and William Servat while it will be point-proving time for Yann David, Cédric Heymans and Maxime Medard, who were on Wednesday left out of France's Six Nations squad by Marc Lievremont.
The teams:
Sale: 15 Nick Macleod, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Mathew Tait, 12 Johnny Kennedy, 11 David Doherty, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Sisa Koyamaibole, 7 Luke Abraham, 6 James Gaskell, 5 Dean Schofield, 4 Chris Jones, 3 Martin Halsall, 2 Mahonri Schwalger, 1 Eifion Roberts.
Replacements: 16 Marc Jones, 17 Rob O'Donnell, 18 Gavin Kerr, 19 Sean Cox, 20 Carl Fearns, 21 Chris Leck, 22 Andy Tuilagi, 23 Oriol Ripol.
Toulouse: 15 Clément Poitrenaud, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Yann David , 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Cédric Heymans, 10 Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, 9 Frédéric Michalak, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Thierry Dusautoir (capt), 6 Grégory Lamboley, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Yoann Maestri, 3 Benoit Lecouls, 2 Virgile Lacombe, 1 Jean-Baptiste Poux.
Replacements: 16 William Servat, 17 Yohan Montes, 18 Daan Human, 19 Shaun Sowerby, 20 Jean Bouilhou, 21 Maxime Medard, 22 Byron Kelleher, 23 Florian Fritz.
Date: Sunday, January 24
Kick-off: 15:00
Venue: Edgeley Park
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Simon McDowell (Ireland), Mark Hermin (Ireland)
Television match official: Marshall Kilgore (Ireland)