Preview: Sale Sharks v Harlequins 17/09/2010
By Quinten Poulsen
September 17 2010
Harlequins leave their home town for the first time this season, with Sale welcoming the visitors to Edgeley Park on Friday night for a 7.45pm kick-off. Edgeley Park is not the happiest hunting ground for Quins, and they have not won there for 6 years.
Mind you, Saints had not won at The Stoop for a similar period and if Quins play to the same standard as last week they must surely win. A win in Stockport would go a long way to making up for the heart-breaking result against Northampton, and Quins really should have nothing to fear from this fixture aside from their poor record at the ground; and who believes in hoodoos anyway!
Without taking anything for granted, the team picked by Mike Brewer does not have too many established combinations, although there are enough talented players throughout the XXIII. The front row sees Welshmen Eifion Lewis Roberts and Marc Jones team up with former Gloucester tighthead Jack Forster – a complete change from their last game, against Saracens. Perhaps this is as much to do with the 5 day turnaround as the fact that Sale struggled somewhat in the scrum last week. While Andrew Sheridan can't be expected to hit top form just yet after so long out, Quins supporters are probably happier to see him on the bench, though he could prove to be a significant impact player later in the game.
The Premiership's youngest captain, James Gaskell (still aged 20!), would seem to have completely recovered from his injury scare, and he will look to dominate their lineout as well as use his impressive handling and athleticism in the loose. Ball carriers is one thing Sale's pack is not short of, and along with the lanky Gaskell they have a good balance of hard runners such as 'The Fridge' Roberts, Sisa Koyamaibole and Carl Fearns. Fearns in particular is a player to watch out for, having frequently kept our own Chris York out of the 2009 England U20 side. David Seymour starts again at openside and hopefully he'll be better contained than Quins managed in the HEC fixture at The Stoop last year when he got a well deserved Man of the Match award.
Sale started the season in impressive form with a home win against Newcastle, and the Falcons win against Wasps last week shows how significant was Sale's win. In that game, Nick McLeod at fly half proved an excellent replacement for the injured Charlie Hodgson, and so it is a little surprising that the backs are being shuffled around so soon in the season. However, with Kingsley Jones previously at the helm, and Philipe Saint-Andre before him, Sale fans will be well used to this. I know more or less nothing about their new fly half Matty James, apart from that he's a Kiwi, he used to play for Cinderford, and he's something of a utility back! Outside Peel and James our former centre Chris Bell links up with McLeod in the centre. Bell has suffered pretty badly with injuries and non-selection whilst at Sale, and it would be good to see him get a good run of games and form. The Sale back three sees established England internationals Ben Cohen and Mark Cueto line up with another new signing – Samoan international, Paul Williams (son of former All Black legend, Bryan)… three players who can attack and defend at a very high level.
Appearing on the bench for Sale is another Quins old boy, Aston Croall. With no replacement tighthead on the bench Aston may not actually get to bash heads with his old pals, and it's the front row where John Kingston has made the biggest change from Quins' opening two fixtures – Matt Cairns and James Johnston starting in place of Chris Brooker and Mark Lambert. It's a change that probably had to happen in light of our poor scrummaging over the last fortnight, and although Joe Marler will feel very unlucky not to start I'm sure that former prop Kingston knows exactly how to handle such a young front-rower. Nick Easter starts at second row I believe for the first time at Quins, and it doesn't seem much of a gamble. He provides the necessary grunt in the scrum, is a very good lineout option, and quite obviously is one of our most important players in the loose. Tomas Vallejos has impressed so far this season and deservedly continues in the absence of the injured Percival and Robson.
Easter's move to lock allows Quins the luxury of starting the dynamic Tom Guest at No.8, and from a good scrum platform Guest gives us great options in attack. Not only that but he is liable to pop up anywhere in midfield and make some serious yards with his pace and ability to spin out of tackles.
Elsewhere Quins keep a mostly settled side, but with Ugo nursing an injury George Lowe is moved out to the left wing with Ollie Smith making his first competitive start at outside centre. Smith will relish the chance to play outside the off-loading JTH, and fans will be hoping to see Lowe coming off his wing to combine with either or both of these two.
For the first time in a while I am feeling quite confident going into a Sale away match, and some of that confidence is probably down to Sale bedding in several new players and combinations. A greater part of that confidence is due to Quins having played some first class rugby for significant periods in their first two games, although I have no doubt that it will be a very tough match, and Sale's excellent record against us does allow for some worry.
Too close to call? Sale's home advantage could see them win, but I'll stick my neck out and say that Quins' improved defence this season combined with some fast and exciting attack will see a narrow win for the away side.
Sale Sharks
- Eifion Lewis Roberts
- Marc Jones
- Jack Forster
- Wame Lewaravu
- James Gaskell (Captain)
- Carl Fearns
- David Seymour
- Sisa Koyamaibole
- Dwayne Peel
- Matty James
- Mark Cueto
- Nick Macleod
- Chris Bell
- Ben Cohen
- Paul Williams
- Neil Briggs
- Andrew Sheridan
- Aston Croall
- Nic Rouse
- Kristian Ormsby
- Chris Leck
- Kyle Tonetti
- Tom Brady
Harlequins
- Ceri Jones
- Matt Cairns
- James Johnston
- Nick Easter
- Tomas Vallejos
- Chris Robshaw (Captain)
- Will Skinner
- Tom Guest
- Danny Care
- Nick Evans
- George Lowe
- Joedan Turner Hall
- Ollie Smith
- Tom Williams
- Mike Brown
- Chris Brooker
- Joe Marler
- Mark Lambert
- Ollie Kohn
- Pete browne
- Karl Dickson
- Rory Clegg
- Gonzalo Camancho
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Sale boss Mike Brewer challenged his serial offenders to put right the wrongs of last weekend and get the Sharks’ Aviva Premiership campaign back on track at home to Harlequins tonight (7.45pm).
The former All Blacks skipper was left shaking his head in frustration at Saracens last Sunday as a succession of needless penalties helped Saracens inflict the first defeat of the season on his new-look Sale side.
So that end, Brewer has opted to ring the changes for the visit of the Londoners with tonight’s starting XV showing six changes from the side that stepped out at Vicarage Road.
Brewer has elected to revamp his entire front row with England and British Lions star Andrew Sheridan amongst those dropping to the bench whilst behind the scrum, Nick Macleod is switched from fly-half to centre, allowing New Zealander Matty James to make his Premiership debut.
Chris Bell, who had almost dropped off the radar completely following a back injury last season, comes in for is first appearance since Brewer’s arrival with youngsters Kyle Tonetti and Tom Brady also dropping to the bench.
If Sale are to achieve Brewer’s target of a top six finish this season, Harlequins are one of the side they simply have to leave in their jet-stream which will add an extra edge to tonight’s encounter.
“I think Quins will finish mid-table so it’s the old adage that if you beat those teams you think you are going to finish around, then you have got a four-point spread on them,” the Kiwi pointed out.
“It is a key match-up but so is Bath next week and then Wasps the following week!
“There are games that I have certainly targeted but we went down to try and beat Sarries though we came unstuck and next week we’ll travel to try and beat Bath even if they are still top of the table.”
If Sale are to prosper, their head coach made it plain they have to eradicate the self-inflicted wounds that proved so painful at Watford and that have seen the side pick up two needless yellow cards in their opening two league games.
Honest
Brewer also made it clear that some home truths had been dished out in training this week.
“Mentally, it’s about learning from the mistakes we made and to be honest the guys that were at fault last weekend were the senior players so there has been a bit of finger pointing going on this week,” the Kiwi revealed.
“We’ve got to improve, especially on the discipline side of things and also look to sharpen up our kicking game which was deplorable last week.
“For tonight, it’s about addressing the issues, and getting things right because in the Premiership, you don’t have much time to dwell on things
“You’ve got address them, correct them, and then put them to bed and move on.
“Quins will be tough. I went down to Twickenham to watch them play on the opening day and they could have easily beaten Wasps. Then, last week against Northampton it was touch and go at the Stoop as well.
“They are a difficult team to put away and they remind me of the two Scottish teams, Edinburgh and Glasgow, in that they hang in there with a chance right to the end.
“But if we play in the right areas of the field with intensity and with discipline we’ll do all right.”
SALE: Williams, Cohen, Bell, Macleod, Cueto, James, Peel, Lewis-Roberts, M Jones, Forster, Lewaravu, Gaskell (Captain), Fearns, Seymour, Koyamaibole. Replacements: Briggs, Sheridan, Croall, Rouse, Ormsby, Leck, Tonetti, Brady