Sale v Northampton: Teams
Sale Sharks have made one change to their starting XV for Friday's Aviva Premiership game against Northampton.
Last Updated: 22/09/11 3:15pm
Sale Sharks have made one change to their starting XV for Friday's Aviva Premiership game against Northampton Saints at Edgeley Park.
Tom Brady returns on the wing, with Charlie Amesbury reverting to the bench. Club captain Sam Tuitupou is named among the replacements.
"We've been really pleased with our improvement from week to week, and know that we have to continue it against a very strong Northampton side," said Sharks' head coach Tony Hanks.
"This game will, again, provide a good benchmark of where we are. Home games are most important to us, and we know our supporters will be in good voice again."
Meanwhile, Northampton have picked Jon Clarke at full-back for a second week and elect Stephen Myler at fly-half in place of Ryan Lamb, who drops to the bench.
Attitude
Props Paul Doran-Jones and Brian Mujati also return to the starting line-up.
While the Saints have suffered reverses at the hands of Harlequins and London Irish the Sharks have been on winning form, taking the points from their games against both the Exiles and London Wasps.
Although Northampton director of rugby Jim Mallinder has been pleased with the players' attitude in training this week he says no one in the squad is under any illusion as to the challenge ahead of them at Edgeley Park.
"The reaction's been very good this week," he said. "Everyone was bitterly disappointed with both the result and performance on Saturday and we've looked long and hard at that this week.
"We have been doing quite a few things well, but we've also been working hard on the things that we haven't been doing so well at. We've put last weekend's game behind us, hopefully learned some lessons, and have been fully focussed on Sale this week.
"Edgeley Park is a tough place to play and Sale try to make it as horrible a place as they can for opposition teams. We know it's going to be difficult - Sale are playing well and won their last two games. But we've been up there before and won up there before and are in a positive frame of mind for the trip."
Sale Sharks: 15 Rob Miller, 14 Tom Brady, 13 Andrew Higgins, 12 Will Addison, 11 Joaquin Tuculet, 10 Nick Macleod, 9 Dwayne Peel, 8 Mark Easter, 7 David Seymour (capt ), 6 James Gaskell, 5 Kearnan Myall, 4 Fraser McKenzie, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Marc Jones, 1 Lee Imiolek.
Replacements: 16 Tommy Taylor, 17 Aston Croall, 18 Vadim Cobilas, 19 Tom Holmes, 20 Neil Briggs, 21 Scott Mathie, 22 Sam Tuitupou, 23 Charlie Amesbury.
Northampton Saints: 15 Jon Clarke, 14 Paul Diggin, 13 Tom May, 12 James Downey, 11 Noah Cato, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Martin Roberts, 8 Phil Dowson (capt), 7 Ben Nutley, 6 Calum Clark, 5 Christian Day, 4 Samu Manoa, 3 Brian Mujati, 2 Brett Sharman, 1 Paul Doran Jones.
Replacements: 16 Mike Haywood, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Tom Mercey, 19 Mark Sorenson, 20 James Craig, 21 Stuart Commins, 22 Ryan Lamb, 23 Scott Armstrong.