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Sale v Montauban</div>
Sale are looking a little unsteady going into their third Heineken Cup match against Montauban on Friday.
Rumours abound that both kingpin Sebastian Chabal and Head Coach Philippe Saint Andre are set to leave the Sharks at the end of the season, possibly both for Toulon.
For Chabal, there is more of a feeling of sadness. "We're at the stage where we're thinking that he'll go," Kingsley Jones, the head coach, said to The Times.
"There's no big pressure on him to change his mind because his reasons are personal. For the time being, he's focusing on his rugby and his performances have been excellent. He was outstanding against Leicester last week and I'd expect another big game from him this weekend."
Saint Andre's reasons are likely to be less personal and more about the cash thrown onto the table by Toulon owner Mourad Boujellal. The Director of Rugby's contract runs until the end of the 2009/10 season and so he would have tobe bought out.
On the pitch, neither Andrew Sheridan nor Mathew Tait are fit enough to start the match and both are on the bench. Dwayne Peel is promoted to the starting line-up ahead of Richard Wigglesworth, and Andy Tuilagi replaces Tait.
"We have had two good results, back to back, with wins over Wasps and Leicester and we are now keen to do well against Montauban tomorrow evening and next week in the return game," said Saint Andre.
"Although we lost to Munster we picked up a valuable win and bonus point with our win in Clermont and we are looking to qualify for the quarter-final stages. It will be tough though as Montauban ran both Munster and Clermont very close and we are expecting a very physical game tomorrow."
Form: Sale arrested a slump during November with victories at Wasps and at home to Leicester, taking them fifth in the Guinness Premiership. Montauban are on a run of two defeats, one of them at home, and have fallen off the pace in the Top 14.
Sale: 15 Rory Lamont, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Andy Tuilagi, 12 Luke McAlister, 11 David Doherty, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Dwayne Peel, 8 Juan Manuel Fernandez Lobbe, 7 Neil Briggs, 6 Jason White, 5 Dean Schofield, 4 Sebastien Chabal, 3 Eifion Roberts, 2 Marc Jones, 1 Lionel Faure.
Replacements: 16 Andrew Sheridan, 17 Stuart Turner, 18 Brent Cockbain, 19 Carl Fearns, 20 Richard Wigglesworth, 21 Chris Bell, 22 Mathew Tait.
Montauban: tbc
Planet Rugby
Sale v Montauban</div>
Sale are looking a little unsteady going into their third Heineken Cup match against Montauban on Friday.
Rumours abound that both kingpin Sebastian Chabal and Head Coach Philippe Saint Andre are set to leave the Sharks at the end of the season, possibly both for Toulon.
For Chabal, there is more of a feeling of sadness. "We're at the stage where we're thinking that he'll go," Kingsley Jones, the head coach, said to The Times.
"There's no big pressure on him to change his mind because his reasons are personal. For the time being, he's focusing on his rugby and his performances have been excellent. He was outstanding against Leicester last week and I'd expect another big game from him this weekend."
Saint Andre's reasons are likely to be less personal and more about the cash thrown onto the table by Toulon owner Mourad Boujellal. The Director of Rugby's contract runs until the end of the 2009/10 season and so he would have tobe bought out.
On the pitch, neither Andrew Sheridan nor Mathew Tait are fit enough to start the match and both are on the bench. Dwayne Peel is promoted to the starting line-up ahead of Richard Wigglesworth, and Andy Tuilagi replaces Tait.
"We have had two good results, back to back, with wins over Wasps and Leicester and we are now keen to do well against Montauban tomorrow evening and next week in the return game," said Saint Andre.
"Although we lost to Munster we picked up a valuable win and bonus point with our win in Clermont and we are looking to qualify for the quarter-final stages. It will be tough though as Montauban ran both Munster and Clermont very close and we are expecting a very physical game tomorrow."
Form: Sale arrested a slump during November with victories at Wasps and at home to Leicester, taking them fifth in the Guinness Premiership. Montauban are on a run of two defeats, one of them at home, and have fallen off the pace in the Top 14.
Sale: 15 Rory Lamont, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Andy Tuilagi, 12 Luke McAlister, 11 David Doherty, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Dwayne Peel, 8 Juan Manuel Fernandez Lobbe, 7 Neil Briggs, 6 Jason White, 5 Dean Schofield, 4 Sebastien Chabal, 3 Eifion Roberts, 2 Marc Jones, 1 Lionel Faure.
Replacements: 16 Andrew Sheridan, 17 Stuart Turner, 18 Brent Cockbain, 19 Carl Fearns, 20 Richard Wigglesworth, 21 Chris Bell, 22 Mathew Tait.
Montauban: tbc
Planet Rugby
