Sale v Bath: Teams

Sale welcome back England trio Andrew Sheridan, Mathew Tait and Mark Cueto for Friday's crucial clash with Bath at Edgeley Park.

The match will have a big bearing on the Sharks' lingering Guinness Premiership play-off hopes with Kingsley Jones' men in danger of missing out having lost their last four league outings.

Along with the English trio, Scotland flanker Jason White also returns after Test duty to provide a timely boost, but the news of Sebastien Chabal is less good with the Frenchman joining injured Luke McAlister on the sidelines.

Lee Thomas, Richard Wigglesworth and Oriol Ripol also return to the side, while Welsh scrum-half Dwayne Peel is back on the bench.

Tough schedule for Bath

Bath, five points ahead of Sale in fifth place with a game in hand, have Ryan Davis back for Friday's contest.

The fly-half has been sidelined with knee ligament damage for 17 months, but head coach Steve Meehan has opted to recall him in place of Butch James in order to give the South Africa intenational a much-needed rest.

"If you go and put another game into Butch you run the risk of losing him all season through injury," Meehan explained. "He has done outstandingly well."

Meehan will also resist the temptation to throw England's Lee Mears straight back into action following his international exertions, mindful of the tough schedule that lies in wait for his team.

"Lee can also only play two of the next three games, so we have to nominate

which two games we expect him to start and this one won't be one of them," he added.

A win for the visitors could see Bath climb into the top two, but they face three league fixtures in nine days. Meehan also has a rearranged game against Wasps next Wednesday to factor into his team selection, before finishing the regular season with a match against Harlequins.

"It's tough. To finish with the Harlequins game, which could be the most difficult of all of them, is a really hard task," he stated.

"It's not just that it's three matches in such a short space of time but it's what we've come off the back of - the Newcastle and Saracens games have been

really physical encounters."

Sale: 15 Nick Macleod, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Mathew Tait, 12 Lee Thomas, 11 Oriol Ripol, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, 7 Neil Briggs, 6 Jason White, 5 Brent Cockbain, 4 Chris Jones, 3 Eifion Roberts, 2 Sebastien Bruno, 1 Andrew Sheridan
Replacements: 16 Lionel Faure, 17 Stuart Turner, 18 Sean Cox, 19 David Tait, 20 Dwayne Peel, 21 Rudi Keil, 22 Selorm Kuadey

Bath: 15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Michael Stephenson, 13 Tom Cheeseman, 12 Shontayne Hape, 11 Andrew Higgins, 10 Ryan Davis, 9 Scott Bemand, 8 Daniel Browne, 7 Michael Lipman (captain), 6 Jonny Faamatuainu, 5 Stuart Hooper, 4 Justin Harrison, 3 Duncan Bell, 2 Rob Hawkins, 1 David Barnes
Replacements: 16 Mark Lilley, 17 Aaron Jarvis, 18 Peter Short, 19 Andy Beattie, 20 Mike Baxter, 21 Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, 22 Jack Cuthbert