Sale Sharks v Leicester Tigers
Welford Road 2.45pm Saturday 4 October
CHRIS Mayor, the former Wigan Warrior, gets his first Zurich
Premiership
start for Sale Sharks against Leicester Tigers at Welford Road on
Saturday.
The 21-year-old fills a gap left by injuries to key midfield players
like
Charlie Hodgson, Jos Baxendell, Chris Rhys Jones and Dan Harris and,
even
though his occasional appearances as a replacement have been on the
wing, he
will start at inside centre against Tigers.
Sharks' coach Jim Mallinder said: "Chris has performed well for our
under-21
side and has done well when called in off the bench this season. We
believe
that inside centre will be his best position and he deserves this
opportunity. He will have experience on either side in fly-half Braam
van
Straaten and Aussie centre Graeme Bond."
The other change in the back division is the elevation of Nick Walshe
who
was on the bench for last week's game against Bath after recovering
from
injury. He takes over from Richard Wigglesworth who reverts to the
replacements' bench.
Up front Andy Titterrell starts at hooker in place of Matt Cairns and
Stuart
Turner continues at tight-head with Barry Stewart sidelined by a calf
injury.
The Sharks have never won at Welford Road and Mallinder said: "It will
be
very hard but we know we have a decent pack of forwards and we will be
looking at our new half-back pairing to bring our backs into the game.
"We have a few injury problems and the team hasn't been playing well
but
there is a long way to go and a challenge like this is what we need."
Sale travel to Leicester tomorrow looking to end their dreadful start to the
season after collapsing to two defeats and a draw from their three outings so
far - and having never won at Welford Road they are likely to suffer further
misery tomorrow.
The Sharks were widely tipped to be the pace-setters after losing just three
players to World Cup call-ups - Wasps coach Warren Gatland said before the
season started that the Manchester club would be the team to beat.
But injuries to key players have proved costly, especially in the midfield
where Sale are missing the influential figures of Charlie Hodgson, Jos Baxendell
and Dan Harris, although former internationals Braam van Straaten and Graeme
Bond should be able to fill the void.
``We have a few injury problems and the team hasn't been playing well but
there is a long way to go and a challenge like this is what we need,'' said
Sharks boss Jim Mallinder, who hands former Wigan rugby league back Chris Mayor
his first start tomorrow.
Mallinder added: ``Chris has performed well for our under-21 side and has done
well when called in off the bench this season. We believe that inside centre
will be his best position and he deserves this opportunity.
``He will have experience on either side in fly-half Braam van Straaten and
Aussie centre Graeme Bond.''
end