SARRIES v SALE SHARKS: post match-related comments here

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No Rodd for Sale as he has had an opearation on his hand. Only Nicky Smith to worry about!

Rekeiti Ma’asi-White unlikely to make the trip either.

Sale seemed less than the sum of their parts last weekend and I expect them to be much improved on Sunday.

If Martin is fit I would expect him to come straight in to the side. Brantingham was excellent off the bench so I hope he keeps one of the loose head spots if Carre is fit.

My guess for the midfield is Tompkins and Cinti. Personally I would prefer Sione and Tompkins for some added go forward, and Nick showed last season he is far better suited to the 13 shirt.

Surely it is just too tempting to start Noah (assuming fitness) after his exploits last season!?

Thanks for the preview.

Just looking forward to getting back to the StoneX. Currently set to be 22 and subnet which is bonkers for October but bodes for a great afternoon. Apparently it’s retro day so everyone encouraged to wear their oldest shirt.

Sione got a lot of time at 12 in preseason so hoping he gets the nod.

Quote:

Sarrov
No Rodd for Sale as he has had an opearation on his hand. Only Nicky Smith to worry about!
Rekeiti Ma’asi-White unlikely to make the trip either.

Sale seemed less than the sum of their parts last weekend and I expect them to be much improved on Sunday.

If Martin is fit I would expect him to come straight in to the side. Brantingham was excellent off the bench so I hope he keeps one of the loose head spots if Carre is fit.

Mawi was also very good for the first 40, took 2 scrum pens off Heyes
I think Carre is still a few weeks off though

Quote:

MarkCol7

Quote:

Sarrov
No Rodd for Sale as he has had an opearation on his hand. Only Nicky Smith to worry about!
Rekeiti Ma’asi-White unlikely to make the trip either.

Sale seemed less than the sum of their parts last weekend and I expect them to be much improved on Sunday.

If Martin is fit I would expect him to come straight in to the side. Brantingham was excellent off the bench so I hope he keeps one of the loose head spots if Carre is fit.

Mawi was also very good for the first 40, took 2 scrum pens off Heyes
I think Carre is still a few weeks off though

Very true. We have some great competition at loose head.

A friend who was at the fans forum tells me it was confirmed that Tobias took a knock, whilst already carrying an issue, which is why he was so out of sorts. Jack Bracken likely to come in for him on Sunday.

Sione to come in for Hartley as well apparently.

Something like the below would be class....

1. Phil B
2. Theo
3. Street
4. Maro
5. Tiz
6. Martin / JMG
7. Ben E
8. Barbs

9. Tomos
10. Ferg
11. Roti
12. Sione
13. Tompkins
14. Jack B
15. Daly

16. Hadfield / Clarke
17. Eroni
18. Clarey
19. Sodeke
20. JMG / Martin
21. Charlie B
22. Faz (If fit)
23. Noah

Quote:

Sarrov
No Rodd for Sale as he has had an opearation on his hand. Only Nicky Smith to worry about!
Sale seemed less than the sum of their parts last weekend and I expect them to be much improved on Sunday.

We should definitely worry about Carpenter too if we're going to continue the plan of kicking down the attacks throat.

I thought that Sale looked ok. Possibly a bit better than their average performance last season.
What seemed to hurt them is they didn't really seem on the same page and given the work of their scrum they didn't seem to use their ball that well. Lineout seems an obvious area to target too.

A big issue for them is Ford. Like Farrell time has caught up with him fast and suddenly he's a bit more of an issue than he is a positive as a player. Bears targeted him relentlessly as we did last season for easy metres and he seemed to struggle to get much variety in Sales attack.

The huge work on for us has to be the maul. Watching back it struggled to get any momentum and its obvious that its going to be a massive weapon for teams this season. Bath beat a slightly improved Quins with little more than a handful of mauls and a moment of Carerras magic.
The good news was our maul defence looked quite handy although we'll obviously be missing Isiekwe who was one of our most effective there.

MarkCol7 agree about Mawi. Scrum penalties against one of the best TightHeads in the League and as soon as Brantingham came on we conceded. I think the pecking order is probably right there. Streets struggles on the TightHead a bit concerning. Is he playing not quite right or was it just one of those games.

It will be interesting to see if this is the first game of rotation or if we'll play 2 on 2 off or similar. Also I think the picks we make as replacements for Hartley and Elliott will tell us a bit about our appetite for development this season.

On the basis that Martin, George, Elliott, Caluori and ofc Hartley are unavailable something like:

Mawi, Dan, Street, Maro, Tizard, Sodeke, Earl, Barbeary, Williams, Segun, Tompkins, Cinti, J Bracken, Malins
Brantingham, Hadfield, Clarey, JMG, Michelow, Bracken, Sione, Hall.

I am not having the Brantingham pen. Absolute shocker of a decision with their tighthead far too long and collapsing flat out on his belly.

I would like to see:

Mawi
Dan
Street
Maro
Tiz
JMG
Earl
Barbeary

Williams
Burke
J.Bracken
Sione
Tompkins
Roti
Malins

Clarke
Brantingham
Clarey
Sodeke
Michelow
C.Bracken
Daly
Noah

Assumes Carre and Martin still not fit

I heard that Carre is out for the first tranche of Prem games with a hamstring injury.

Quote:

David@Sarries
I heard that Carre is out for the first tranche of Prem games with a hamstring injury.

That's a shame. Hopefully back for the European block

Quote:

Sarrov

Quote:

David@Sarries
I heard that Carre is out for the first tranche of Prem games with a hamstring injury.

That's a shame. Hopefully back for the European block

+1

Real shame, Sunday will be another big test of our front row. Sale will undoubtedly be fired up to put right the two huge defeats last season.

Are we expecting Weilbach to feature in the bench. Clarey put in a good shift last week but I'd guess Weilback is still our second choice.

Quote:

PaulHerox
Are we expecting Weilbach to feature in the bench. Clarey put in a good shift last week but I'd guess Weilback is still our second choice.

He was in a bib training before the match on Sunday so expect he’s fit or close to being
Joe Shaw name checked him as one of the signings that have fitted in well in his post match interview so would expect to see him soon
Agreed that Clarey put in a great 40 minutes on Sunday though

Thanks MarkCol7 that's good to know.

Looks like George Martin in full training from the clip on social media so expect him to feature this weekend

Referee is Joe James
AR's Karl Dickson and Mike Woods
TMO Hamish Smales

Joe James has been very good when we’ve had him before, less keen on some of his team members……

Let's hope it doesn't become the Karl and Hamish show, to continue the trend of last week's Luke show.

Nick Isiekwe free to play. 20 minute red downgraded to yellow.

Looking forward to this team selection.
I'm hoping for pretty much the same team but given comments above plus Martin and J Bracken and maybe Sione or Cinti at centre. Perhaps rotation of Tizard to bench for Martin and Earl to start for JMG although this early in the season I'd be happy with JMG keeping the start and Earl with an impact role like last week.

Quote:

PaulHerox
Looking forward to this team selection.
I'm hoping for pretty much the same team but given comments above plus Martin and J Bracken and maybe Sione or Cinti at centre. Perhaps rotation of Tizard to bench for Martin and Earl to start for JMG although this early in the season I'd be happy with JMG keeping the start and Earl with an impact role like last week.

The hearing for Nick was only on Tuesday, by which time they would usually have told the players the side. I wonder if he will therefore be rested.

SARACENS TEAM TO PLAY SALE SHARKS

1 Eroni Mawi

2 Theo Dan

3 Marcus Street

4 Maro Itoje (c)

5 Hugh Tizard

6 Nick Isiekwe

7 Juan Martin Gonzalez

8 Alfie Barbeary

9 Tomos Williams

10 Fergus Burke

11 Rotimi Segun

12 Sione Va'enuku

13 Nick Tompkins

14 Jack Bracken

15 Elliot Daly

REPLACEMENTS

16 Eoghan Clarke

17 Alex O'Driscoll

18 Alec Clarey

19 George Martin

20 Nathan Michelow

21 Ben Earl

22 Charlie Bracken

23 Max Malins

No huge surprises after last week, most lads have earned another go around. Interestingly, Twitter has Sodeke rather than Tizard.

5.5/2.5 split again with Ben covering centre and back row. After last week I don't get it, but the positive is it gets Michelow in the squad.

Glad to see Jack and Sione trusted rather than a rejig of positions to stick with more senior names. Looking forward to Martin rolling off the bench.

Roll on Sunday.

Apart from the enforced changes, it's the same team.

I'm looking forward to seeing Sione in action!

[I hate autocorrect]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026:10:02:13:54:24 by David@Sarries.

Was Tobias Elliott injured last week?

Quote:

SarriesSon
Was Tobias Elliott injured last week?

Apparently he took a knock early on which is why he looked a bit below par.

Quote:

Sarrov

Quote:

SarriesSon
Was Tobias Elliott injured last week?

Apparently he took a knock early on which is why he looked a bit below par.

Ahh ok, thanks Sarrov

He didn’t seem right after being flattened by Kata, then hyper-extended his elbow so it was amazing he stayed on with Charlie Bracken still on the bench.
Sale look very strong in the forwards, and pretty handy in the backs. Very different game from those last year coming up I suspect

Seems they are determined with the 6/2 even though it’s caused us issues multiple times
Didn’t watch Sale play last week but their team looks strong on paper
Worried about the scrum again as Sale have strong replacement props, aswell as their starters
We’ve got 2 4th choice props on our bench

What’s happened to Brantingham?

The opposition:
Starting XV:

15. Joe Carpenter
14. Tom O’Flaherty
13. Joe Marchant
12. Alex Lozowski
11. Arron Reed
10. George Ford
9. Gus Warr
1. Nicky Smith
2. Nathan Jibulu
3. Asher Opoku-Fordjour
4. Ernst van Rhyn (c)
5. Ben Bamber
6. Courtney Lawes
7. Tom Curry
8. Jacques Vermeulen

Replacements:

16. Ethan Caine
17. Si McIntyre
18. Tomas Francis
19. Christ Tshiunza
20. Elia Canakaivata
21. Dom Hanson
22. Marius Louw
23. Ponipate Loganimasi

Twitter now updated to show Tiz as starting

Quote:

tpr's headmistress
The opposition:
Starting XV:

15. Joe Carpenter
14. Tom O’Flaherty
13. Joe Marchant
12. Alex Lozowski
11. Arron Reed
10. George Ford
9. Gus Warr
1. Nicky Smith
2. Nathan Jibulu
3. Asher Opoku-Fordjour
4. Ernst van Rhyn (c)
5. Ben Bamber
6. Courtney Lawes
7. Tom Curry
8. Jacques Vermeulen

Replacements:

16. Ethan Caine
17. Si McIntyre
18. Tomas Francis
19. Christ Tshiunza
20. Elia Canakaivata
21. Dom Hanson
22. Marius Louw
23. Ponipate Loganimasi

On paper that is a very strong starting 15.

Compared to the team 12 months ago (which also was strong on paper)

Sale Sharks: O'Flaherty; Roebuck, R. du Preez, Louw, Reed; Ford, Warr; Rodd, Cowan-Dickie, Opuku-Fordjour, Bamber, Andrews, van Rhyn (capt), Woodman, Dugdale.

Replacements: Jibulu, McIntyre, Harper, Burrow, Caine, Quirke, Ma'asi-White, James.

I like the look of our outfit. That strikes the right balance for me.

6/2 bench - so two of the backs will go down in the first half with injuries as per the Saracens 6/2 curse.

Quote:

RobB
Compared to the team 12 months ago (which also was strong on paper)
Sale Sharks: O'Flaherty; Roebuck, R. du Preez, Louw, Reed; Ford, Warr; Rodd, Cowan-Dickie, Opuku-Fordjour, Bamber, Andrews, van Rhyn (capt), Woodman, Dugdale.

Replacements: Jibulu, McIntyre, Harper, Burrow, Caine, Quirke, Ma'asi-White, James.

Good point

Pack for Sunday looks a fair bit stronger than last year to me, but backlines are of a similar level.

So largely continuity bar some changes for injury. Martin onto the bench is a plus and generally those players did well last week.

Well those who wanted J Bracken, Va'enuku and O'Driscoll should be delighted. A shame that it's taken injuries for their starts but I like the confidence to back them and hope it's rewarded. If it isn't immediately that's also fine too as the experience will be invaluable.

It will be interesting to see how Va'enuku goes. Lozo and Marchant is a very defensively solid centre partnership and offers distinct though not necessarily direct threats going forwards.

Its a good Sale side in opposition and both Curry and Lawes having had very average games against Bears will want to make up for it. Starting pack looks quality but I thought that last week too.

Like the last two games against Sale we need to target Ford. I know that's basic stuff but we really reaped the rewards last season. If he's in the front line then get his centres and backrows tied into "bodyguarding him" and exploit the space left and if he's hidden in the backfield get Segun and Bracken after him on contestable kicks. Caluori tran around and over him last season.

Please don't feed Sales back three with uncontested long kicks.

I still think Daly at FullBack is just a poor call. Regardless of whether you think he's played/is playing well he is supposedly a good combination with Farrell and we have seen multiple times that Burke and Malins work brilliantly together. Why not use those successful combinations rather than split them up. Maybe it's because of Farrell's knock and they are thinking of Malins at 10 in then rotation team. Seems a waste to me but that's the situation we leave ourselves in having let Johnson go.

Quote:

Sarrov
No huge surprises after last week, most lads have earned another go around. Interestingly, Twitter has Sodeke rather than Tizard

After last week for me that would have been the right call with Tizard dropping out with Martin to bench. That Sodeke doesn't even make the bench suggest a late fitness check/failure I guess.

One interesting thing with a very similar team two weeks in a row is it perhaps gives us an indication of the rotation side.
Sodeke + 1 as starting locks, Onyeama-Christie, Michelow and Earl in the back row, C Bracken starting with Farrell/Malins, Va'eneku with Cinti (possibly different now he's been called up for this game) Hall somewhere in the back three.
Certainly some interesting options there and ofc some from the current matchday 23 will feature too in the XV or on the bench.

Has anyone got any information on the injuries and expected length of absence for certain players ? Notably George, Carre, Farrell, Onyeama-Christie, Brantingham. Thanks.

Good luck tomorrow Sarries. Go well.

Paul, I like the speculation on the rotation options. I'm waiting to see on Europe sides myself as I have half an eye on the 'we have three international number 8s, just rotate them betweeen 7, 8 and 24' option.

Quote:

SarrieGirl
Has anyone got any information on the injuries and expected length of absence for certain players ? Notably George, Carre, Farrell, Onyeama-Christie, Brantingham. Thanks.

I heard somewhere Carre has a hamstring injury and out until after Nations Cup.

Looking at the performances so far these past two weekends the "good teams" have very solid scrums. I hope we're not going to get a bit exposed there.

Well two points get's us 4th and five plus a winning margin of 21+ places above that but no chickens counted here.

If the Prem so far has shown anything it's that it will not be predictable.

Weather looks beautiful and yesterdays great game between Bears and Saints showed that even a move to more of a defensive focus can't be at the expense of backing your attack.

Hopefully we've taken the lessons from the Tigers win and we put in a playing as well as emotional performance that shows the team we'll be this season.