Saracens v Sale Sharks: England stars return for Champions Cup holders
By Tony Tighe
Last Updated: 10/12/16 8:12pm
England quartet Owen Farrell, Mako Vunipola, Jamie George and George Kruis all start for Saracens in Saturday's Champions Cup tie with Sale, live on Sky Sports 2 HD from 5pm.
Kruis resumes his second-row partnership with Maro Itoje as the defending champions look to extend their winning streak in the competition to 12 games.
Jackson Wray is ruled out with a slight knock so Schalk Burger moves to No 8 with Kelly Brown named at openside flanker. Australia international Will Skelton is named on the bench following his arrival on a short-term deal in midweek.
Sale sit bottom of Pool 3 after losing their opening two Champions Cup fixtures and they make six changes to the team that was thumped by Exeter in the Premiership last weekend.
James Mitchell replaces Mike Phillips at scrum-half while Tom Arscott switches to full-back as Paolo Odogwu comes in on the wing.
Director of rugby Steve Diamond has also opted to rotate his entire back row with Tom Curry, David Seymour and Laurence Pearce all coming in.
"We are not playing well as a team at the moment and we need to get some confidence back into the players and the squad," said Diamond.
"We will use the game on Saturday to do just that. We are up against probably the best club side in the world that have massive strength in depth."
Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Brad Barritt (c), 11 Chris Wyles, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Richard Wigglesworth; 1 Mako Vunipola, 2 Jamie George, 3 Petrus Du Plessis, 4 Maro Itoje, 5 George Kruis, 6 Michael Rhodes, 7 Kelly Brown, 8 Schalk Burger.
Replacements: 16 Schalk Brits, 17 Richard Barrington, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Jim Hamilton, 20 Will Skelton, 21 Ben Spencer, 22 Alex Lozowski, 23 Nathan Earle.
Sale Sharks: 15 Tom Arscott, 14 Paolo Odogwu, 13 Sam James, 12 Johnny Leota, 11 Josh Charnley, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 James Mitchell; 1 Ross Harrison, 2 Rob Webber, 3 Brian Mujati, 4 Josh Beaumont (c), 5 Jonathan Mills, 6 Tom Curry, 7 David Seymour, 8 Laurence Pearce.
Replacements: 16 Cameron Neild, 17 James Flynn, 18 Ciaran Parker, 19 George Nott, 20 Ben Curry, 21 Mike Phillips, 22 Dan Mugford, 23 Mark Jennings.
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