Sale v Bristol: Teams

Sale will welcome back a quartet of internationals for their Guinness Premiership clash against Bristol.

Mathew Tait, Dwayne Peel, Lionel Faure and Sebastien Chabal will all start for the Sharks having returned from RBS Six Nations duty.

However Sale will be without star centre Luke McAlister, with the New Zealander having undergone minor knee surgery on Thursday.

With both sides having suffered defeats last time out, head coach Kingsley Jones is expecting a tough encounter.

Jones said: "This is a big game for both clubs. We need to get back on track after last week's defeat at Gloucester and Bristol are scrapping for their Guinness Premiership lives.

"The defeat against Newcastle last week will have hurt them but we expect them to come and give us a tough game. There will be no complacency from my players, we will respect them and we must put in an 80-minute disciplined performance."

Debut

Former England Under-20s second row Dave Attwood has been handed his Premiership debut for the clash against Sale.

The 21-year-old, who made his first appearance for the club back in the 2005-6 season in the Powergen Cup, is one of five changes to the Bristol side.

Luke Eves, Adrian Jarvis, Scott Linklater and Joe El Abd also return to the Bristol line-up - and assistant coach Paul Hull has full confidence in Attwood.

"Dave has been there or thereabouts for the last couple of years now. I am really pleased for him to get a start in the Premiership through selection rather than injury," he said.

"Now he needs to make his mark at senior level. He has always had potential - hopefully he can fulfil that."

Sale: 15 Nick Macleod, 14 Chris Bell, 13 Mathew Tait, 12 Rudi Keil, 11 Oriol Ripol, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Dwayne Peel, 1 Lionel Faure, 2 Sebastien Bruno, 3 Eifion Roberts, 4 Sebastien Chabal, 5 Dean Schofield, 6 Chris Jones, 7 Luke Abraham, 8 JM Fernandez Lobbe.
Replacements: 16 Marc Jones, 17 Stuart Turner, 18 Sean Cox, 19 Neil Briggs, 20 Chris Leck, 21 Lee Thomas, 22 Selorm Kuadey

Bristol: 15 Tom Arscott, 14 Lee Robinson, 13 Neil Brew, 12 Luke Eves, 11 David Lemi, 10 Adrian Jarvis, 9 Shaun Perry, 1 Mark Irish, 2 Scott Linklater, 3 Darren Crompton, 4 Dave Attwood, 5 Nathan Budgett, 6 Alfie To'oala, 7 Joe El Abd, 8 Dan Ward-Smith.
Replacements: 16 David Blaney, 17 Wayne Thompson, 18 Roy Winters, 19 Redford Pennycook, 20 Graeme Beveridge, 21 Ed Barnes, 22 Nathan Brew