WASPS TEAM TO PLAY SALE SHARKS

WASPS TEAM TO PLAY SALE SHARKS

Wasps’ Director of Rugby Dai Young has named his squad to take on Sale Sharks in the Aviva Premiership at the Ricoh Arena this Sunday, kick-off 2pm.

Simon McIntyre is set to make his 100th appearance for Wasps as he is named to start once again, while Sam Jones captains the side, in the absence of the injured George Smith.

The Wasps backline remains unchanged for a fourth successive week, with just one change in the pack, where Nathan Hughes starts at eight in the place of Smith, Sam Jones moving to six and Thomas Young to seven.

Ahead of the game, which sees third-placed Wasps take on eighth-placed Sale Sharks with just ten points between them, Director of Rugby Dai Young said:

“We were very pleased with our performance last weekend, in a high intensity, hugely physical battle, but that game is now gone and our challenge is to match that level of performance against a very aggressive, physical Sale Sharks side.

“We don’t need to think too far back to remember how Sale beat us at the AJ Bell Stadium, where we were disappointed in our performance. We know that Sale will punish us, as they have done in the past, if we are not at the top of our game, so we have to play with real tempo, pace and penetration.

“With the league as tight as it is currently, with the gap between third and eighth so narrow, one win or loss can completely change how the table looks. The challenge for us is backing up last weekend’s performance with another one on Sunday.”

WASPS TEAM

15. Rob Miller

14. Christian Wade

13. Charles Piutau

12. Siale Piutau

11. Frank Halai

10. Jimmy Gopperth

9. Dan Robson

1. Simon McIntyre

2. Ashley Johnson

3. Jake Cooper-Woolley

4. James Cannon

5. Kearnan Myall

6. Sam Jones (c)

7. Thomas Young

8. Nathan Hughes

16. Carlo Festuccia

17. Tom Bristow

18. Phil Swainston

19. Will Rowlands

20. Alex Rieder

21. Jamie Stevenson

22. Ruaridh Jackson

23. Brendan Macken