Will Cliff features in a Sale team for the first time in over a year while teenage flankers Will Riley and Tristan Woodman make their first starts for the club as Senior Academy Coach Gareth Harris shuffles his pack for Sunday’s Premiership Rugby Cup semi-final against Exeter Chiefs (LIVE on BT Sport, KO 1pm).
Harris has picked a mix of youth and experience for the last-four clash, with Tommy Taylor, Coenie Oosthuizen, Luke James, Bryron McGuigan and Jason Woodward also in the starting XV.
England under 18 scrum-half Will Wootton and Senior Academy flanker Yande Nkonge take their places on an all-homegrown replacements bench.
Academy prop Tumy Onasanya starts in the front row at Sandy Park alongside the established pair of Oosthuizen and Taylor.
Rouban Birch and Alex Groves team up in the second row with 19-year-old Sharks fan Riley, England under 20 flanker Woodman and captain Sam Dugdale packing down behind them in an exciting back row.
Cliff starts alongside fly-half Tom Curtis at half back and they’ve got Sam Hill and Luke James outside them in the centres.
Fresh from scoring twice in last week’s pool stage defeat at Bristol, Elliot Gourlay gets another chance to impress on the wing, while Byron McGuigan and Woodward make up the rest of an explosive back three.
The bench is a mix of youth and experience with Harry Thompson, Ben Carlile and Cal Ford offering front row cover.
Ewan Murphy and Nkonge will cover the rest of the forwards, while Wootton, Kieran Wilkinson and Joe Bedlow are the backs replacements.
Sale Sharks Starting XV:
15. Jason Woodward, 14. Byron McGuigan, 13. Luke James, 12. Sam Hill, 11. Elliot Gourlay, 10. Tom Curtis, 9. Will Cliff; 1. Tumy Onasanya, 2. Tommy Taylor, 3. Coenie Oosthuizen, 4. Rouban Birch, 5. Alex Groves, 6. Will Riley, 7. Tristan Woodman, 8. Sam Dugdale ©
Replacements:
16. Harry Thompson, 17. Ben Carlile, 18. Cal Ford, 19. Ewan Murphy, 20. Yande Nkonge, 21. Will Wootton, 22. Kieran Wilkinson, 23. Joe Bedlow.
