Saracens vs Sale - Sunday

[Puja]

Saracens Men team to play Sale Sharks:
1 Eroni Mawi
2 Kapeli Pifeleti
3 Christian Judge
4 Callum Hunter-Hill
5 Theo McFarland
6 Andy Christie
7 Ben Earl (c)
8 Jackson Wray
9 Ivan van Zyl
10 Manu Vunipola
11 Elliot Daly
12 Nick Tompkins
13 Alex Lozowski
14 Alex Lewington
15 Alex Goode

Replacements:
16 Theo Dan
17 James Flynn
18 Marco Riccioni
19 Andrew Kitchener
20 Toby Knight
21 Ruben de Haas
22 Josh Hallett
23 Sean Maitland


No Sale team as of yet (that I can see)

[fivepointer]

Sale Sharks Starting XV:

15. Joe Carpenter, 14. Tom Roebuck, 13. Sam James, 12. Sam Hill, 11. Tom O’Flaherty, 10. Robert du Preez, 9. Gus Warr; 1. Simon McIntyre, 2. Tommy Taylor, 3. Nick Schonert, 4. Cobus Wiese, 5. Josh Beaumont, 6. JL du Preez, 7. Ben Curry ©, 8. Daniel du Preez

Replacements:

16. Ewan Ashman, 17. Ross Harrison, 18. James Harper, 19. Jono Ross, 20. Sam Dugdale, 21. Joe Simpson, 22. Tom Curtis, 23. Byron McGuigan.

Roebuck wont be playing for England next week then.
Good news for Sale who are still without some key players.

[Puja]

Roebuck wont be playing for England next week then.
Good news for Sale who are still without some key players.

A cynic might note that the important thing from an England perspective right now is that he won't be playing for Scotland next week either.

Risible that 1st vs 2nd is taking place in the international window, when a bit of sensible rejigging of fixtures when Wasps went down could have avoided it.

Puja

[Banquo]

Sale Sharks Starting XV:

15. Joe Carpenter, 14. Tom Roebuck, 13. Sam James, 12. Sam Hill, 11. Tom O’Flaherty, 10. Robert du Preez, 9. Gus Warr; 1. Simon McIntyre, 2. Tommy Taylor, 3. Nick Schonert, 4. Cobus Wiese, 5. Josh Beaumont, 6. JL du Preez, 7. Ben Curry ©, 8. Daniel du Preez

Replacements:

16. Ewan Ashman, 17. Ross Harrison, 18. James Harper, 19. Jono Ross, 20. Sam Dugdale, 21. Joe Simpson, 22. Tom Curtis, 23. Byron McGuigan.

Roebuck wont be playing for England next week then.
Good news for Sale who are still without some key players.

Not quite as much as Sarries tbf! Good to see Daly on the wing too
I'd think Sale would be slight favourites.

[Timbo]

Roebuck isn’t playing. Arron Reed starts on the right wing.

[chris18501]

Sarries 9-15 is pretty awesome for a 2nd xv

[Puja]

Roebuck isn’t playing. Arron Reed starts on the right wing.

Good spot. Looks like Sale's own website are responsible for the cockup - they mention in the article that Roebuck is away and so Reed is playing, but have failed to edit their XXIII at the bottom to remove him. https://www.salesharks.com/2022/10/28/t ... -sharks-3/

Puja

[Banquo]

Sarries 9-15 is pretty awesome for a 2nd xv

however 1-5 not so much.

[chris18501]

Sarries 9-15 is pretty awesome for a 2nd xv

however 1-5 not so much.

1-4 agreed!

[FKAS]

Sale really should be looking to be beating Sarries up, up front and then getting in the face of the youthful Vunipola at 10. The Sarries backline is pretty much first choice outside of Farrell and Malins so shutting off supply and focusing the game on the weakened Sarries area makes a lot of sense.

[Banquo]

Sarries 9-15 is pretty awesome for a 2nd xv

however 1-5 not so much.

1-4 agreed!

Mcfarland is an excellent 6 .....

[chris18501]

Touché!

[twitchy]

Sale really strong start, one try scored and one disallowed after 5 mins.

[twitchy]

lol wayne barnes takes a hit.

[fivepointer]

When is George Ford available? Sale could do with him right now.

[Puja]

lol wayne barnes takes a hit.

Twice. I think the second one was at least a yellow - Barnes made absolutely no effort to lower his height, upright tackle, reckless play.

When is George Ford available? Sale could do with him right now.

Commentary actually suggested he would need to work to oust RdP from the 10 shirt! Sale need him to direct them so badly.

Puja

[FKAS]

however 1-5 not so much.

1-4 agreed!

Mcfarland is an excellent 6 .....

Wasn't exactly bad at 5 today.

[Oakboy]

however 1-5 not so much.

1-4 agreed!

Mcfarland is an excellent 6 .....

One hell of an athlete!

[Banquo]

1-4 agreed!

Mcfarland is an excellent 6 .....

Wasn't exactly bad at 5 today.

Great player but I`d still say a top 6 filling in at lock.

[Banquo]

good game btw

[Scrumhead]

I rarely choose to compliment Saracens, but whoever found McFarland did an unbelievable job.

To have found a player with the ability to go from being completely unheard to one of the best blindside flankers in the league in just over a season is a massive scouting triumph.

The mad thing is how new McFarland is to rugby. If he continues this rate of development, he could be an absolute monster. He clearly has excellent athleticism and a natural feel for the game. Experience will only add to that.

[Oakboy]

I rarely choose to compliment Saracens, but whoever found McFarland did an unbelievable job.

To have found a player with the ability to go from being completely unheard to one of the best blindside flankers in the league in just over a season is a massive scouting triumph.

The mad thing is how new McFarland is to rugby. If he continues this rate of development, he could be an absolute monster. He clearly has excellent athleticism and a natural feel for the game. Experience will only add to that.

Wish he was English. He's like Lawes, Curry and Watson rolled into one.

[francoisfou]

I rarely choose to compliment Saracens, but whoever found McFarland did an unbelievable job.

To have found a player with the ability to go from being completely unheard to one of the best blindside flankers in the league in just over a season is a massive scouting triumph.

The mad thing is how new McFarland is to rugby. If he continues this rate of development, he could be an absolute monster. He clearly has excellent athleticism and a natural feel for the game. Experience will only add to that.

Wish he was English. He's like Lawes, Curry and Watson rolled into one.

He reminds me of the one and only Andy Ripley.

[Scrumhead]

I rarely choose to compliment Saracens, but whoever found McFarland did an unbelievable job.

To have found a player with the ability to go from being completely unheard to one of the best blindside flankers in the league in just over a season is a massive scouting triumph.

The mad thing is how new McFarland is to rugby. If he continues this rate of development, he could be an absolute monster. He clearly has excellent athleticism and a natural feel for the game. Experience will only add to that.

Wish he was English. He's like Lawes, Curry and Watson rolled into one.

Agreed. He would be Eddie’s dream 6.

Could be an interesting case study though - McFarland was primarily a basketball player until 2019. He had played rugby, but not at a high level, so it goes to show that there is plenty of scope for those with the athletic potential/physical attributes for rugby to switch.

When I think about the massive amount of players in football who don’t make it, there must be some who would have the ability to transfer to rugby if they were encouraged to do so.

[Mikey Brown]

I was going to say Croft + Kaino, but yeah he's pretty special.