Sale v Leicester: Teams

Leicester welcome back England duo Tom Croft and Julian White as they head to Edgeley Park to take on Sale on Friday.

Croft spent three months on the sidelines with a fractured shoulder but made an appearance off the replacements bench against Wasps last weekend and now takes the next step in his recovery.

White will be making his first start since November having been troubled by injury and the presence of Martin Castrogiovanni.

Despite the absence of eleven players either through injury or international duty, Richard Cockerill's men continue to top the Aviva Premiership table and the Tigers boss has called for more of the same against struggling Sale.

"We've been going well and, although some of the teams around us have games in hand, we're just focusing on what we are doing," said the Tigers boss.

"There are seven games to go and we're just trying to get as many points as we can. Sale is always a tough place to go but we've won our last three away games and we should go with some confidence.

"It's all about getting results at this stage of the season. We're in a good place at the moment but that can change very quickly."

Respect

Entering the game on the back of a 21-9 defeat to Harlequins last weekend, Sale boss Peter Anglesea knows that only a top performance for all 80 minutes will be enough to claim victory.

"We know that we will have to show them total respect throughout the game and match their physicality," he said.

We also know that we need to be focused from the first whistle to the last. Last week we leaked two early tries and it was an uphill struggle from then on."

Sale suffered an injury blow on the eve of the match with flanker Carl Fearns pulling out with a knee injury.

Neil McMillan therefore steps in at No.7 with Chris Brightwell taking a seat on the bench.

Leicester: 15 Scott Hamilton, 14 Horacio Agulla, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Jeremy Staunton, 9 James Grindal, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Tom Croft, 6 Craig Newby (c), 5 George Skivington, 4 Steve Mafi, 3 Julian White, 2 George Chuter, 1 Marcos Ayerza. Replacements: 16 Rob Hawkins, 17 Boris Stankovich, 18 Peter Bucknall, 19 Calum Green, 20 Ben Woods, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 Dan Hipkiss, 23 Billy Twelvetrees.

Sale: 15 Rob Miller, 14 Tom Brady, 13 Chris Bell, 12 Kyle Tonetti, 11 Ben Cohen, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Dwayne Peel, 8 Sisa Koyamaibole, 7 Neil McMillan, 6 James Gaskell (c), 5 Wame Lewaravu, 4 Chris Jones, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Ben Roberts, 1 Lee Imiolek. Replacements: 16 Aston Croall, 17 Simon McIntyre, 18 Jack Forster, 19 Sean Cox, 20 Chris Brightwell, 21 Will Cliff, 22 Andy Tuilagi, 23 Fergus Mulchrone.