Sale Sharks vs Saracens

[Teh Mite]

Edgeley Park
Sun Jan 2 2011
at 14:00 (local)

​

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Sheridan, Gaskell and Hodgson expected to be back in contention for this,

Hopefully Imiolek will start again, as he did admirably against Castro last week, Sheridan on the bench
Jones/Ormsby is a good second row partnership, lots of grunt and Jones is a good lineout operator, I'd have Gaskell on the bench
Hodgson vs MacLeod is interesting, neither has the edge in goal kicking (though MacLeod has a slightly longer range) - Hodgsons kicking from hand is better though - Would probably have him on the bench



I really think Sale will win this. Just need to sort out the shocking defence of Welford road. The attacking intent was there (three good tries)



I reckon Gav will start this, but not sure where. Barritt and Pharrell don't deserve to be dropped, and 12/10 is where he wants to be (though if they played him at 13 more it'd certainly help his Wales hopes, as Roberts/Henson 12/13 would be mega)

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Imiolek had a good outing last time, amazing for a 20 year old! Has a good pre-match routine also ... shaves his head :lol:

 

[Teh Mite]

I have a suspicion Sale will poach this on also by 2 or 3 points.

Either that or Sarries scorch it by 25.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Yup, either a narrow Sale win, or a hammering by Sarries



Imiolek had a good run in the Sale Jets last season and did well in what little game time he got in the main squad as well, and played well for England U20s (though was shadowed by Marler)

With him and Marler (and Golding) England are set for looseheads for the next decade

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Sale Team
Paul Williams,
Rhys Crane,
Chris Bell,
Kyle Tonetti,
Mark Cueto (Captain),
Charlie Hodgson,
Dwayne Peel,
Andrew Sheridan,
Marc Jones,
Karena Wihongi,
Chris Jones,
Kristian Ormsby,
James Gaskell,
Carl Fearns,
Sisa Koyamaibole

Replacements Ben Roberts, Lee Imiolek, Henry Thomas, Sean Cox, Neil McMillan, Will Cliff, Nick Macleod, Mathew Tait

Shouldn't have dropped Imiolek, imo. Scrum against Tigers is the strongest I've seen it in a while, and Sheridan won't add to that (though his open play game is better than Imiolek)
Think Gaskell and Jones should switch as well. Though Gaskell played a fair bit of 6 last season, Jones is much more suited to the back row (though second row is his better position) - and Jones played there for England too, once upon a time
Glad to see Tonetti given a shot too, Brewer seemed to have taken a dislike to him or something, only getting a chance in two games

Saracens line-up vs Sale Sharks

15 Alex Goode
14 Michael Tagicakibau
13 Gavin Henson
12 Brad Barritt
11 James Short
10 Owen Farrell
9 Richard Wigglesworth
1 Deon Carstens
2 Schalk Brits
3 Petrus du Plessis
4 Steve Borthwick (c)
5 Mouritz Botha
6 Jacques Burger
7 Andy Saull
8 Ernst Joubert

16 Jamie George
17 Rhys Gill
18 James Ellershaw
19 George Kruis
20 Kelly Brown
21 Kevin Barrett
22 Nils Mordt
23 Noah Cato

Hensons future as a Hook type player? In the centres, but the Flyhalf cover as well, meaning the bench has a centre instead of a FH/centre

 

[Gavin]

Why is Henson playing 13? Surely Baritt and Henson should switch positions - though they may possibly during the match.

 

[Teh Mite]

Because Barritt is a far superior 12 then Henson?

I'll bet that Gatland is eyeing up the orange one for the 13 channel, meanwhile Sarries have realised they don't need him now Owen Farrell has come to the fore. Being as they're spending mega-bucks on the expensive cyRilian-****-rag, they might as well get their moneys worth and play him.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Bullit makes a point, they don't really need him anymore, now that Owen Farrell is on top form (and Goode can cover 10 at a push)
Though I bet Henson didn't cost much, as noone wanted him, and he wanted to stick in London

 

[lynam1104]

Is this Imiolek fella English? I think the only way Henson will see a Welsh spot is if he plays 13.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Yup, from Manchester
From the Sale academy, and played age grade England from a young age (played in the U20 world cup just gone, but Marlers performance shadowed him somewhat, as they are both looseheads)

 

[TVH11]

Defo gonna keep my eye on this game, gonna try and catch it on the web I think i've become a bedroom Sarries fan (for one reason of course - although i was given a Saracens shirt for xmas a few years back - its as if it was Fate). Be interesting to see Gavlar playing 13, Wales seem to have that 12 birth for Roberts, and Hooks been hot and cold. Should be an interesting one. Sarries high in confidence after wasps win, and Sale wanting to redeem themselves after the Leicester match.... should be an interesting match.
(I apologise for every post in a sarries related thread turning to Henson, but some of us welshies just wanna see him play, let alone play well so I get super exited when i see his name on a team sheet). Good luck to both teams, hopefully there will be a few tries in this match

 

[Teh Mite]

Outstanding try from Cueto.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Top work,
I think Cueto must be made of bricks, everytime he gets absolutely flattened, the tackler always seems to come off worse


Sale lucky not to be a man/penalty try down from Williams pulling Farrell away from the ball in opening minutes though

 

[Teh Mite]

The early phase aside, Sale have so far been the better team. Is this a weekend of the unexpected results perhaps with Quins, Bath and Leeds already notching wins?

 

[Teh Mite]

Gaskell scores Sales 2nd!!!

 

[Teh Mite]

******* TMO took forever...

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Wooop!

KOY-AM-AY-BOLAY
They're adding extra Ms all over the place in Koyamaibole's name

 

[MunsterMan]

Great kick by Hodgson, Sale should definitely come away with the win here.

 

[MunsterMan]

When you have a penalty advantage in the opposition 22 why go for a drop goal? why not go for 7, if you mess up you can still fall back on the chance for 3 points?

18-3 to Sale now, another Hodgson penalty.