Sale name team to face Northampton Saints

October 17, 2024
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Ultimate Rugby

Alex Sanderson makes four changes to his side for the trip to Northampton on Friday (7.45pm KO, live on TNT Sports) as Dan du Preez starts for the first time since January and Waisea Nayacalevu returns in the centres.

Prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour and winger Tom O’Flaherty also come back into the Sharks side following the win against Newcastle while Luke James features on the replacements bench for the first time this season.

The Sharks front-row shows one change from last week as Opoku-Fordjour comes in at tighthead in place of James Harper. He’ll line up alongside Si McIntyre and Luke Cowan-Dickie, who was named in the England squad this week for the Autumn International Series.

Ernst van Rhyn switches from the back-row to the second-row, where he teams up with fellow South African Hyron Andrews, while in the back-row, skipper Ben Curry and brother Tom start alongside the returning Dan du Preez at number 8.

In the backs Gus Warr starts once again at scrum-half alongside Rob du Preez at fly-half, while in the centres, Sam Bedlow starts alongside Fiji skipper Nayacalevu.

O’Flaherty starts on the wing in place of the injured Arron Reed (hip) and he will line up alongside Tom Roebuck and last week’s player of the match Joe Carpenter in the back three.

Hooker Ethan Caine, and props Tumy Onasanya and James Harper cover the front row from the replacements bench with Ben Bamber and Sam Dugdale covering the rest of the forwards. Nye Thomas, Tom Curtis and Luke James are the replacement backs.

Sale Sharks Starting Line-Up:

15. Joe Carpenter, 14. Tom Roebuck, 13. Waisea Nayacalevu, 12. Sam Bedlow, 11. Tom O’Flaherty, 10. Rob du Preez, 9. Gus Warr; 1. Si McIntyre, 2. Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3. Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 4. Ernst van Rhyn, 5. Hyron Andrews, 6. Tom Curry, 7. Ben Curry ©, 8. Dan du Preez.

Replacements:

16. Ethan Caine, 17. Tumy Onasanya, 18. James Harper, 19. Ben Bamber, 20. Sam Dugdale, 21. Nye Thomas, 22. Tom Curtis, 23. Luke James.