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Sale recall Tuilagi, Curry while Harlequins include Smith to start
By Liam Heagney
Sale versus Harlequins is primed to be a Friday night blockbuster after the Sharks included Lions back-rower Tom Curry and midfielder Manu Tuilagi in their starting XV to take on defending champions Harlequins, who have included rising star Marcus Smith at out-half following his swashbuckling exploits off the bench.
Alex Sanderson has made a total of seven changes to his starting line-up following the Sale defeat at Gloucester. That includes the return of Bevan Rodd at loosehead and Cobus Wiese in the second row.
Harlequins, meanwhile, have made three changes following their comeback win over Bristol, Smith, James Chisholm and Luke Northmore all included to start on this occasion.
Scrum coach Adam Jones said: “It’s great to see James back fit and starting this week after a bit of an injury-hit start to his season. Marcus was obviously great off the bench last week and Luke is always a strong performer whenever he pulls on the jersey.
“We have probably started the week with a bit more bounce in our steps off the back of such a great occasion at The Stoop last week, but Sale are a strong team and were semi-finalists last year," continued the Harlequins assistant.
"They are a big, heavy, aggressive forward pack with a good set-piece. They can play a bit of ball when they need to. It’s a tough place to go as a pack, but we know if we impose ourselves on them, we can challenge them with the way we play.”
SALE: 15. Simon Hammersley; 14. Denny Solomona, 13. Sam James, 12. Manu Tuilagi, 11. Byron McGuigan; 10. Kieran Wilkinson, 9. Raffi Quirke; 1. Bevan Rodd, 2. Curtis Langdon, 3. Nick Schonert, 4. Cobus Wiese, 5. Jean-Luc du Preez, 6. Jono Ross (capt), 7. Tom Curry, 8. Daniel du Preez. Reps:16. Tommy Taylor, 17. Ross Harrison, 18. Oosthuizen, 19. JP du Preez, 20. Cameron Nield, 21. Gus Warr, 22. Tom Curtis, 23. Luke James.
HARLEQUINS: 15. Tyrone Green; 14. Joe Marchant, 13. Luke Northmore, 12. Andre Esterhuizen, 11. Cadan Murley; 10. Marcus Smith, 9. Danny Care; 1. Joe Marler, 2. Jack Walker, 3. Simon Kerrod, 4. Matt Symons, 5. Dino Lamb, 6. James Chisholm, 7. Jack Kenningham, 8. Alex Dombrandt (capt). Reps: 16. Sam Riley, 17. Fin Baxter, 18. Will Collier, 19. Hugh Tizard, 20. Tom Lawday, 21. Scott Steele, 22. Huw Jones, 23. Louis Lynagh.
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That's really stupidly pedantic. Let's say the gods had smiled on us, and we were playing Ireland in Belfast on this trip. Then you'd be happy to accept it as a tour of the UK. But they're not going to Australia, or Peru, or the Philippines, they're going to the UK. If they had a match in Paris it would be fair to call it the "end-of-year European tour". I think your issue has less to do with the definition of the United Kingdom, and is more about what is meant by the word "tour". By your definition of the word, a road trip starting in Marseilles, tootling through the Massif Central and cruising down to pop in at La Rochelle, then heading north to Cherbourg, moving along the coast to imagine what it was like on the beach at Dunkirk, cutting east to Strasbourg and ending in Lyon cannot be called a "tour of France" because there's no visit to St. Tropez, or the Louvre, or Martinique in the Caribbean.
Go to commentsJust thought for a moment you might have gathered some commonsense from a southerner or a NZer and shut up. But no, idiots aren't smart enough to realise they are idiots.
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