Sale vs Saracens - Friday night

[Puja]

Sale: 15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Rob du Preez, 12 Manu Tuilagi, 11 Arron Reed, 10 George Ford, 9 Gus Warr, 8 Jean-Luc du Preez, 7 Ben Curry (c), 6 Ernst van Rhyn, 5 Jonny Hill, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Nick Schonert, 2 Agustin Creevy, 1 Ross Harrison.
Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Tumy Onasanya, 18 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 19 Josh Beaumont, 20 Sam Dugdale, 21 Nye Thomas, 22 Sam James, 23 Sam Bedlow.

Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Lucio Cinti, 13 Nick Tompkins, 12 Olly Hartley, 11 Sean Maitland, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Andy Christie, 6 Juan-Martin Gonzalez, 5 Theo McFarland, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Alec Clarey, 2 Jamie George, 1 Mako Vunipola.
Replacements: 16 Theo Dan, 17 Tom West, 18 Logovi’i Mulipola, 19 Hugh Tizard, 20 Toby Knight, 21 Gareth Simpson, 22 Tom Parton, 23 Alex Lewington.

Venue: AJ Bell Stadium, Salford
Kick-off: 19:45
Referee: Ian Tempest
Assistant Referees: Hamish Grant, John Meredith
TMO: Andrew Jackson

[Spartan Shark]

Couple of strong teams running out tomorrow night and some key duels across the park. Sale a bit thin in the prop department with a couple of young lads on the bench...both did well last week (and we know Asher's quality) but hope they don't get overplayed.

Shame George and LCD aren't starting against each other, but Creevy is a top operator.

Getting the right side of Tempest could be key and hopefully Farrell will rub him up the wrong way early

[fivepointer]

Bound to be billed as a showdown between the 10's but there's plenty else to look forward to.

Hartley at 12 is one to keep an eye on.

Really like that Sale back 3.

[FKAS]

Ford Vs Farrell should be an interesting watch. Suspect Sarries will have to much for Sale.

[francoisfou]

Are the commentators Mullins and Dallaglio? I’m watching on an internet stream and the voices seem unusually deep?

[twitchy]

A lot of huffing and puffing but not much quality.

[FKAS]

Mako Vunipola having a miserable evening at scrum time. Looked like he was walking the line of a yellow card but then Schonert goes looking for it and balls it up 5m out from the line.

[twitchy]

Ball reached the sale centres for the first time after 38 mins.

[FKAS]

It's not been a great watch.

[Oakboy]

How good a winger is Roebuck? He seems to take a lot of stopping and he's useful in the air.

[FKAS]

Why in earth kick it out then? Surely it's an easy kick to 5m out and have a last crack at the rolling maul.

Roebuck did look good. Big, strong and quick. Chases the kicks very well.

[Puja]

Why in earth kick it out then? Surely it's an easy kick to 5m out and have a last crack at the rolling maul.

Only 2 points in the lead, against the wind, lineout going shit - yes it's unlikely that Sarries would go 50m upfield and get a penalty, but not out of the question and you'd look all the pricks of the day if they did. Bird in the hand.

Opoku-Fordjour had another belting cameo. Very thoroughly dominated Tom West, who is a not unhandy prop, in the scrums and was energetic and efficacious in defence. Anyone mentioning England callups beyond an apprentice still gets a smack on the nose with a rolled up newspaper, but he doesn't half look good. If he was even 2 years older, I'd be screaming for him to be in the EPS on this form.

Puja

[twitchy]

(Meaning he won them).

[fivepointer]

Sale good value for the win. Thought Saracens were unusually poor at times. The Vunipolae are really finished as top level performers.
Curry was very good, Roebuck stood out and the props were terrific.
Opoku-Fordjour is quite something. For a guy whos not that big he generates an awful lot of power. It is very early days but dammit its very hard not to get just a little excited about this lad.

[Oakboy]

I was disappointed with Ford conceding that try. Over-ambitious, attacking passes intercepted are one thing but chucking a loose pass when trying to avoid a tackle like that just looked feeble. He had one good break, I suppose. He kicked poorly.

Despite being on the losing side and with his scrum under pressure, Farrell looked a better FH in this match, much as I hate acknowledging it.

[Captainhaircut]

Probably going to bite me in the arse but can’t help looking at Saracens and thinking they are starting to look a very beatable side.

Half backs offering no running game or real creativity, the least dynamic back 3 in the league and a pair of Vunipolas who offer very little now.

Earl, Riccioni and Willis are big misses at the moment and the McFarland at lock move doesn’t seem to be working but they are in serious danger of missing out on top 4 and can’t see them threatening in Europe in any real way.

[FKAS]

Why in earth kick it out then? Surely it's an easy kick to 5m out and have a last crack at the rolling maul.

Only 2 points in the lead, against the wind, lineout going shit - yes it's unlikely that Sarries would go 50m upfield and get a penalty, but not out of the question and you'd look all the pricks of the day if they did. Bird in the hand.

Opoku-Fordjour had another belting cameo. Very thoroughly dominated Tom West, who is a not unhandy prop, in the scrums and was energetic and efficacious in defence. Anyone mentioning England callups beyond an apprentice still gets a smack on the nose with a rolled up newspaper, but he doesn't half look good. If he was even 2 years older, I'd be screaming for him to be in the EPS on this form.

Puja

Lineout was all over the shop but when it worked the got a push over try. In fact the rolling maul generally went well for Sale. Given a TBP and Sarries leaving with nowt was on the line it was worth a gamble.

Opoku-Fordjour looks like he could develop into a genuine world beater doesn't he. So much power, it's not like he's a big lad. The Sale pack is massive which will certainly help but as you say it's not like Tom West is a mug at scrum time. Quite the opposite. England call up is a bit early. He still qualifies for the under 20s and it would probably be good for him to play a bit more at that level and hopefully keep boosting his experience.

Him coming through really does help elevate some of the panic around the tighthead options available. Fasogbon at Glaws hasn't broken through yet but also looks like he has potential.

[16th man]

Why in earth kick it out then? Surely it's an easy kick to 5m out and have a last crack at the rolling maul.

Only 2 points in the lead, against the wind, lineout going shit - yes it's unlikely that Sarries would go 50m upfield and get a penalty, but not out of the question and you'd look all the pricks of the day if they did. Bird in the hand.

Opoku-Fordjour had another belting cameo. Very thoroughly dominated Tom West, who is a not unhandy prop, in the scrums and was energetic and efficacious in defence. Anyone mentioning England callups beyond an apprentice still gets a smack on the nose with a rolled up newspaper, but he doesn't half look good. If he was even 2 years older, I'd be screaming for him to be in the EPS on this form.

Puja

Lineout was all over the shop but when it worked the got a push over try. In fact the rolling maul generally went well for Sale. Given a TBP and Sarries leaving with nowt was on the line it was worth a gamble.

Not sure how much it came across on the telly but the weather was ridiculously vile from kick off and only got worse as the game went on, so risking a line out would have been a complete lottery.

[FKAS]

Only 2 points in the lead, against the wind, lineout going shit - yes it's unlikely that Sarries would go 50m upfield and get a penalty, but not out of the question and you'd look all the pricks of the day if they did. Bird in the hand.

Opoku-Fordjour had another belting cameo. Very thoroughly dominated Tom West, who is a not unhandy prop, in the scrums and was energetic and efficacious in defence. Anyone mentioning England callups beyond an apprentice still gets a smack on the nose with a rolled up newspaper, but he doesn't half look good. If he was even 2 years older, I'd be screaming for him to be in the EPS on this form.

Puja

Lineout was all over the shop but when it worked the got a push over try. In fact the rolling maul generally went well for Sale. Given a TBP and Sarries leaving with nowt was on the line it was worth a gamble.

Not sure how much it came across on the telly but the weather was ridiculously vile from kick off and only got worse as the game went on, so risking a line out would have been a complete lottery.

Kicks from both sets of half backs were going all over the shop. It certainly looked very windy. Been howling a gale down here as well. If it's the same all over them there could be some interesting games today.