Sharks’ England stars return and two Academy graduates will make their Gallagher PREM debuts as Alex Sanderson names a strong side for the round one clash with Gloucester under the Thursday night lights (live on TNT Sports, BBC Radio Manchester – KO 7.45pm).
Bevan Rodd, Asher Opoku-Fordjour, Ben Curry, George Ford, Tom Roebuck and Joe Carpenter all start against George Skivington’s men while new club captain Ernst van Rhyn will lead the team for the first time.
Academy scrum-half Dom Hanson and back-rower Tristan Woodman will make their Prem bows from the replacements bench at the newly-named CorpAcq Stadium.
England props Rodd and Opoku-Fordjour start in the front-row either side of new signing Nathan Jibulu, who starts in the Gallagher Prem for the first time.
Skipper Van Rhyn starts in the second row alongside Ben Bamber, with former Exeter man Jacques Vermeulen, Curry and Sam Dugdale in the back-row.
Gus Warr and England fly-half Ford start together at half-back and they’ll have Rekeiti-Ma’asi-White and Rob du Preez outside them in the centres.
Tom O’Flaherty and Roebuck start on the wings with Carpenter, who made his England debut on the summer tour, at full-back.
The Sharks bench is packed with homegrown talent with Ethan Caine, Si McIntyre and WillGriff John offering front-row options alongside locks Hyron Andrews and England U20s skipper Tom Burrow and flanker Woodman.
Hanson, who scored his first try for Sale during the Prem Rugby Cup win against Bristol, and Arron Reed are the backs replacements.
Starting XV:
15.Joe Carpenter, 14. Tom Roebuck, 13. Rob du Preez, 12. Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, 11. Tom O’Flaherty, 10. George Ford, 9. Gus Warr; 1. Bevan Rodd, 2. Nathan Jibulu, 3. Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 4. Ernst van Rhyn ©, 5. Ben Bamber, 6. Jacques Vermeulen, 7. Ben Curry, 8. Sam Dugdale.
Replacements:
16. Ethan Caine, 17. Simon McIntyre, 18. WillGriff John, 19. Hyron Andrews, 20. Tom Burrow, 21. Dom Hanson, 22. Arron Reed, 23. Tristan Woodman.
- Sale Sharks boasted the Prem’s best defence last season with a league-leading tackle success rate (79.2%) and the most successful tackles (2878).
- Ernst van Rhyn made more dominant tackles (21) than any other player in the competition, while also ranking 4th for total successful tackles (228).
- Luke Cowan-Dickie scored 9 tries last season (7th) and led the league for lineout throws won (200).
- Sale Sharks won more mauls (114) and maul penalties (19) than any other team in the Prem last season.
- Sale Sharks’ only home defeat in the PREM since January 2024 was 23-32 to eventual champions Bath last January.
- Gloucester won three of their last four PREM fixtures but just missed out on the playoffs last season.
- Gloucester’s three away wins in the PREM last season came at Bristol in Round 2, Northampton in Round 7 and Newcastle in Round 17.
- Gloucester have won two of their last three fixtures against Sale, but both of those victories were at Kingsholm, the Sharks have won their last five such encounters on Salford soil since Gloucester last won there 18-16 in October 2019.
