Team for the big game

By Sarah
April 26 2002

Sale face a difficult game on Sunday. Gloucester have beaten us twice this season and both times they won convincingly. On those occasions the game was won in the forwards but at least this time Sale have a first choice pack out.

Stuart Turner is back in the squad and will be sitting alongside an excellent set of reserves, also featuring Pete Anglesea and Apollo Perelini. Chris Jones has been playing so well recently that he has edged into the team ahead of the more experienced back rows: Jim Mallinder wants to keep consistency in teh side and pick largely the same players as he did in the last couple of matches.

The biggest blow to the team is the absence of Scott Lines, who got a hamstring injury last week and missed the game against Saracens. That means that Iain Fullarton and Mark Giacheri form the second row.

Apart from the powerful Gloucester forwards, the fly-half Ludovic Mercier will probably be a real pain, trying to slot drop goals over at every opportunity. At least we have an excellent injury-free set of backs and if we do get a reasonable proportion of the possession, then we will have a good chance of beating them.

Finally, although Gloucester have beaten us twice, they have recently lost some games and hopefully some confidence with those results.

“Gloucester have had a dip of form recently but Phil Vickery is back to lead them and we aren’t reading anything into their defeats at London Wasps and Northampton Saints. But we had a few missing the last time we met, such as fly-half Charlie Hodgson, so I think that on Sunday it will be a case of the game going to the side that gets it right on the day”, Jim Mallinder said.

This season's games:

Sale 21 - Gloucester 44
Gloucester 42 - Sale 14

Sale team: Jason Robinson, Mark Cueto, Martin Shaw, Mel Deane, Steve Hanley, Charlie Hodgson, Bryan Redpath (capt), Kevin Yates, Andy Titterrell, Adam Black, Iain Fullarton, Mark Giacheri, Alex Sanderson, Stuart Pinkerton, Chris Jones. Replacements: Alan Dickens, Dan Harris, Pete Anglesea, Richard Wilks, Apollo Perelini, Stuart Turner, Charl Marais.

Gloucester team: Catling, O'Leary, Fanalua, Todd, Simpson-Daniel, Mercier, Gomarsall, Woodman, Azam, Vickery (capt), Pearce, Cornwell, Forrester, Sewabu, Paramore. Replacements: Yachvili, Paul, Collazo, Fortey, Pucciariello, Fidler, Boer.