Bristol v Sale: Teams

Matt Salter returns to the Bristol team for Friday's Guinness Premiership encounter with Sale Sharks at the Memorial Stadium.

Salter returns on the blindside in place of Iain Grieve and will take over as captain from Joe El-Abd. There are two other changes in the pack with Scott Linklater and Roy Winters replacing Mark Regan and Nathan Budgett respectively.

"We're almost looking ahead now to how we want to play next year," admitted Bristol head coach Richard Hill.

"We've been trying to change the style of play and be a little bit more expansive which is tricky when you're in the heat of battle and points are vital.

"But it is a bit easier now because we can think a bit about the long term rather than gearing everything towards one fixture at a time."

Sale are without Lee Thomas and Sebastien Chabal for their trip to the west country.

Thomas has missed training this week due to illness while Chabal suffered a knee injury last weekend against Brive.

Sharks director of rugby Philippe Saint Andre said: "The next two games, played in the space of five days, could make or break our Premiership season.

"Both games are very difficult but we are ready and have total focus on tomorrow evening's game against Bristol. We are staying down in the South of England over the weekend so that we can keep the squad together and prepare for Tuesday evening's game against Wasps."

Bristol: 15 Luke Arscott, 14 Tom Arscott, 13 Rob Higgitt, 12 Neil Brew, 11 David Lemi, 10 Ed Barnes, 9 Shaun Perry, 1 Darren Crompton, 2 Scott Linklater, 3 Jason Hobson, 4 Roy Winters, 5 Sean Hohneck, 6 Matt Salter (capt), 7 Joe El Abd, 8 Dan Ward-Smith

Replacements: 16 Mark Regan, 17 Peter Bracken, 18 Nathan Budgett, 19 Andrew Blowers, 20 Haydn Thomas, 21 Jason Strange, 22 Luke Eves.

Sale Sharks: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Chris Bell, 12 Elvis Seveali'I, 11 Oriol Ripol, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 1 Andrew Sheridan, 2 Sebastien Bruno, 3 Stuart Turner, 4 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 5 Sean Cox, 6 Jason White, 7 Juan Fernandez Lobbe, 8 Chris Jones

Replacements: 16 Neil Briggs, 17 Eifion Roberts, 18 Brent Cockbain, 19 Magnus Lund, 20 Will Cliff, 21 Luke McAlister, 22 Selorm Kuadey