Sale rest England duo for Tigers clash
Sale Sharks Director of Rugby Kingsley Jones has - surprisingly - opted to rest his two England backs backs, Mathew Tait and Mark Cueto, for Sunday's Guinness Premiership trip to Welford Road.
Of course, the Leicester Tigers lie in wait for Sale - who are in ninth position on the Guinness Premiership table - and Jones has taken a massive gamble by resting two of his key men.
"We have come off the back of two great results and a lot of the players need a break, so we are giving some of the squad members a chance," explained the Sale boss.
"We have a tough month ahead and we need all our players to be match fit. I have rested Mark Cueto and Mathew Tait as they were due a break under the EPS regulations, but am delighted that Kristian Ormsby returns."
The absence of Tait and Cueto aside, this Sale line-up still boasts plenty of talent with the likes of Oriol Ripol, Ben Cohen, Charlie Hodgson and Richard Wigglesworth shaping up as the backline dangermen and Ormsby, Tigers Old Boy Luke Abraham and James Gaskell forming a well-balanced, and physical, loose trio.
Meanwhile, England star Lewis Moody has been handed the Leicester Tigers captaincy ahead of the weekend.
The international flanker will lead his team out on home soil for the first time, with head coach Richard Cockerill making three changes to the side that started last Saturday's 20-15 Heineken Cup victory over Clermont Auvergne.
Dan Cole starts at tighthead after replacing the injured Martin Castrogiovanni in the early stages of last week, whilst veteran Ben Kay returns for Louis Deacon (rested) at lock and Ireland 'A' winger Johne Murphy reclaims a place in the backline ahead of Alesana Tuilagi.
The replacements bench includes flanker Ben Woods - who has not played since Round Two because of a broken foot - and England utility back Sam Vesty who is in line for his first appearance of the season after recovering from a serious hamstring injury.
"I thought we played really well last weekend and now we need to take that intensity back into our Guinness Premiership fixtures," Richard Cockerill told leicestertigers.com.
"Sale have had a couple of wins in Europe and they are playing some good rugby. With 24,000 supporters in the stadium on a holiday afternoon, I'm sure there'll be a cracking atmosphere."
Castrogiovanni (stomach muscle), Aaron Mauger (back), Richard Blaze (foot), Geordan Murphy (shoulder) and Julian White (hamstring) - with Blaze the only non-full international amongst the group - remain sidelined with their respective injuries.
The teams:
Leicester Tigers: 15 Scott Hamilton, 14 Johne Murphy, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Lote Tuqiri, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Lewis Moody (captain), 6 Craig Newby, 5 Ben Kay, 4 Geoff Parling, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Mefin Davies, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 George Chuter, 17 Boris Stankovich, 18 Robbie Harris, 19 Calum Green, 20 Ben Woods, 21 Harry Ellis, 22 Sam Vesty, 23 Alesana Tuilagi.
Sale Sharks: 15 Marika Vakacegu, 14 Oriol Ripol, 13 Jonny Kennedy, 12 David Bishop, 11 Ben Cohen, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Kristian Ormsby, 7 Luke Abraham, 6 James Gaskell, 5 Sean Cox, 4 Chris Jones, 3 Martin Halsall, 3 Martin Halsall, 2 Marc Jones, 1 Gavin Kerr.
Replacements: 16 Mahonri Schwalger, 17 Rob O'Donnell, 18 Jack Forster, 19 Dean Schofield, 20 Carl Fearns, 21 Chris Leck, 22 Nick Macleod, 23 Dave Docherty.
Standby players: Lee Imiolek and David Seymour
Date: Sunday, December 27
Venue: Welford Road
Kick-off: 14.00
Referee: JP Doyle
Assistant referees: Don Helme, Alan Biggs
Television match official: Brian Abrahams