Preview: Sale v London Irish

Andrew Sheridan: Part of a loaded bench

Sale Sharks make two changes to the starting line-up that beat Harlequins last week, for their Guinness Premiership match against London Irish on Saturday.

Sale, the 2006 Premiership champions, need to beat Edgeley Park visitors London Irish to secure a play-off spot. Defeat could see them nudged out by Harlequins or Leicester.

Lionel Faure and Neil Briggs start in the front row with Andrew Sheridan and Sebastien Bruno moving to the bench. Mark Cueto returns after injury too and is named on the bench.

"This game is like a quarter final, we need to win to build on last weeks great victory at the Stoop," said Head Coach Philippe Saint Andre.

"London Irish will however, be tough opponents. They have a good side and were unlucky in the Heineken Cup semi-finals when they narrowly lost to Toulouse. They have a very good record against us and I am sure they will be looking to finish their season on a high."

"The weather forecast is good, for a change, and I would like to see a big crowd turn up for this final home game of the season."

Form: Sale Sharks have won five of their last six matches in the Guinness Premiership and risen two spots in the league table in the process. Sale's only defeat at Edgeley Park this season in any competition was 15-22 to Worcester in the Premiership on 29 February. London Irish have won four successive games in the Guinness Premiership since losing 16-19 at Bath on 22 March. The Exiles will really need another maximum from this game to give the European Cup semi-finalists any chance of qualifying for next season's competition. London Irish have won the last two games they have played against Sale, and have been victorious on three of their last four visits to Edgeley Park.

The teams:

Sale Sharks: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Selorm Kuadey, 13 Chris Bell, 12 Luke McAlister, 11 Andy Vilk, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Sebastien Chabal, 7 Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Jason White (c), 5 Brent Cockbain, 4 Chris Jones, 3 Stuart Turner, 2 Neil Briggs, 1 Lionel Faure.

Replacements: 16 Sebastien Bruno, 17 Andrew Sheridan, 18 Eifion Roberts, 19 Dean Schofield, 20 Michael Hills, 21 Will Cliff, 22 Mark Cueto.

London Irish: 15 Peter Hewat, 14 Topsy Ojo, 13 Seilala Mapusua, 12 Shane Geraghty, 11 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 10 Eoghan Hickey, 9 Paul Hodgson, 8 Phil Murphy, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Declan Danaher, 5 Bob Casey (c), 4 James Hudson, 3 Faan Rautenbach, 2 David Paice, 1 Tonga Lea'aetoa.

Replacements: 16 Clarke Dermody, 17 Stuart Mackie, 18 Dan Murphy, 19 Gary Johnson, 20 Richard Thorpe, 21 Warren Fury, 22 Tomas De Vedia.

Date: Saturday, May 10

Venue: Edgely Park

Kick-off: 15:00 BST (14:00 GMT)

Referee: Chris White

Touch judges: Paul Emerson, Martin Buck

Assessor: Colin High

Television match official: Andrew Turner