Sale v Quins: Teams

France forward Sebastien Chabal will return to the Sale Sharks staring line-up for Friday's Guinness Premiership clash with Harlequins.

Chabal has missed his club's last six games due to injury and international duty but will take the field at Edgeley Park on Friday night.

Without Chabal, the Sharks have not been in great form, winning only once while he has been out of the team, including a 38-20 loss to Harlequins less than a month ago.

However, Sale have won seven of their last eight on home turf with their only loss coming against an in-form Newcastle Falcons.

The Sharks director of rugby Kingsley Jones knows that his side has to win to maintain any hope of a Premiership play-off place.

"This is a game we have to win to give us any chance at all of finishing in the top four," he said.

"We have two games to go, both at home and we will be going out to try and finish the regular season on a high.

"Harlequins were unlucky not to win last weekend in the Heineken Cup against Leinster and I am sure they will travel north looking to bounce back from that defeat."

Double

Meanwhile, Quins can claim their first ever league double over Sale and also virtually guarantee a play-off place with a win.

Sunday's Heineken Cup quarter-final has taken its toll on the visitor's squad, with Nick Evans and Chris Malone out with injury.

Waisea Luveniyali, starting his first Guinness Premiership match of the season, will take Evans' place at stand-off.

Mike Brown is also absent from the squad and will be replaced by Tom Williams at full-back.

The remaining changes to Dean Richards' starting line-up include Andy Gomarsall, who starts at scrum-half, and De Wet Barry who will partner Gonzalo Tiesi at centre. Danny Care and Jordan Turner-Hall are listed as replacements.

Sale: 15 Nick Macleod, 14 David Doherty, 13 Mathew Tait, 12 Andy Tuiagi, 11 Oriol Ripol, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Dwayne Peel, 8 JM Fernandez Lobbe (c), 7 Neil Briggs, 6 Jason White, 5 Dean Schofield, 4 Sebastien Chabal, 3 Eifion Roberts, 2 Sebastien Bruno, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements: 16 Stuart Turner, 17 Lionel Faure, 18 Chris Jones, 19 David Tait, 20 Richard Wigglesworth, 21 Rudi Keil, 22 Selorm Kuadey.

Harlequins: 15 Tom Williams, 14 David Strettle, 13 Gonzalo Tiesi, 12 De Wet Barry, 11 Ugo Monye, 10 Waisea Luveniyali, 9 Andy Gomarsall, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Will Skinner (c), 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 George Robson, 4 James Percival, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Gary Botha, 1 Ceri Jones.
Replacements: 16 Tani Fuga, 17 Mark Lambert, 18 Jim Evans, 19 Tom Guest, 20 Danny Care, 21 Seb Stegman, 22 Jordan Turner-Hall.