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Saracens, Sale make two changes each; Farrell-Ford go head-to-head
By Liam Heagney
Second-place Saracens and fourth-place Sale have named teams showing two changes each from the XVs that respectively defeated Bristol and Leicester.
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Saturday’s round 18 match at the StoneX will be crucial in determining the end-of-season semi-final line up, with the already qualified Londoners seeking to secure knockout stage home advantage and the Sharks looking to keep rivals Exeter, Harlequins and Bristol below them on the table.
Saracens were 41-20 winners at Ashton Gate last weekend and Mark McCall’s two changes see Christian Judge taking over at tighthead in place of the benched Marco Riccioni with Sean Maitland named on the right wing in place of the excluded Rotimi Segun.
Sale, meanwhile, have included full-back Joe Carpenter and hooker Luke Cowan Dickie to start with Sam James and Tommy Taylor, try scorers in the win over Leicester, dropping to the bench.
The fixture will see Owen Farrell, the former England skipper, go head-to-head against George Ford, who took over the No10 Test for the Guinness Six Nations after Farrell decided to take a Test rugby sabbatical.
SARACENS: 15. Elliot Daly; 14. Sean Maitland, 13. Lucio Cinti, 12. Nick Tompkins, 11. Tom Parton; 10. Owen Farrell (capt), 9. Ivan van Zyl; 1. Mako Vunipola, 2. Jamie George, 3. Christian Judge, 4. Maro Itoje, 5. Hugh Tizard, 6. Juan Martin Gonzalez, 7. Ben Earl, 8. Tom Willis. Reps: 16. Theo Dan, 17. Eroni Mawi, 18. Marco Riccioni, 19. Nick Isiekwe, 20. Theo McFarland, 21. Billy Vunipola, 22. Aled Davies, 23. Alex Goode.
SALE: 15. Joe Carpenter; 14. Tom Roebuck, 13. Rob du Preez, 12. Manu Tuilagi, 11. Tom O’Flaherty; 10. George Ford, 9. Gus Warr; 1. Bevan Rodd, 2. Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3. James Harper, 4. Cobus Wiese, 5. Hyron Andrews, 6. Ben Curry (capt), 7. Sam Dugdale, 8. JL du Preez. Reps: 16. Tommy Taylor, 17. Si McIntyre, 18. WillGriff John, 19. Ben Bamber, 20. Ernst van Rhyn, 21. Raffi Quirke, 22. Sam James, 23. Arron Reed.
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