SALFORD — Sale Sharks have been forced into a late change ahead of their PREM Rugby round three clash with Harlequins at the CorpAcq Stadium after England back-rower Tom Curry withdrew through illness, with kick-off scheduled for 15:00 BST live on TNT Sports 5 and HBO Max.
Curry had been due to start on the openside flank against the bottom-ranked Londoners but pulled out of the 23-man squad, prompting director of rugby Alex Sanderson to reshuffle his pack. Christ Tshiunza now comes into the run-on side in the back row alongside Elia Canakaivata and Courtney Lawes, while Sam Dugdale is promoted onto the bench.
Otherwise Sale are as previously advertised. Joe Carpenter starts at full-back with Tom O’Flaherty and Arron Reed on the wings, Joe Marchant and Alex Lozowski in midfield and George Ford partnering Gus Warr in the halves. Ben Bamber and captain Ernst van Rhyn continue at lock behind a front row of Asher Opoku-Fordjour, former Harlequin Nathan Jibulu and Nicky Smith, with Luke Cowan-Dickie, Simon McIntyre, Tomas Francis, Ben Curry, Dom Hanson, Marius Louw and Ponipate Loganimasi completing the replacements alongside Dugdale.
Jason Gilmore’s Harlequins are unchanged from the side announced on Friday. George Furbank continues at full-back with Tyrone Green and captain Cadan Murley on the wings, Luke Northmore and Bryn Bradley in the centres and Marcus Smith partnering Will Porter at half-back. Chandler Cunningham-South, Seb Driscoll and Jack Kenningham form the back row, Kieran Treadwell and James Dun are at lock and Simon Kerrod, Sam Riley and Will Hobson start up front, with Christophe Ridley to referee assisted by Henry Pearson and Jamie Leahy and Peter Allan as TMO.