Sale Sharks’ last seven matches in Aviva Premiership Rugby have all been won by the home side on the day. Sale’s only home defeat in the Premiership since October came at the hands of Exeter on 25 November.
Saracens have lost two of their last three encounters in the Premiership and also two out of three in their last three away games in the competition.
The Sharks only victory over Saracens in their last seven clashes in all competitions was 28-22 at Edgeley Park in this equivalent fixture last season.
Sale Sharks have named their squad and the starting fifteen shows three changes from the side which lost at Exeter three weeks ago, with Luther Burrell, Tony Buckley and Mark Easter coming in for Johnny Leota, Vadim Cobilas and Richie Vernon, who are all on the bench.
Returning from injury are prop Alasdair Dickinson, who missed all of Scotland's Six Nations campaign, and second row Tom Holmes, who featured in the Sharks' first eight games of the season.Tom was injured in an Aviva 'A' League match against Leeds Carnegie on 7th November but successfully returned to action last week when the club's second string beat Rygbi Gogledd Cymru .
Looking forward to the game, Sharks' Head Coach Tony Hanks said, "After a three week break, the boys are really keen to get back into match action.Unfortunately, the Exeter game put a dampener on what had been a good February.
"We have to find the balance between not repeating what happened at Sandy Park and building on the good things we were doing beforehand. We've done enough training - we're ready to play!"
Meanwhile Charlie Hodgson starts at fly-half for Saracens against his former club while fresh from action with England in the Six Nations against Ireland last weekend; Matt Stevens and Brad Barritt both start the match.
Owen Farrell and David Strettle have been given a rest week.
Also named on the bench is prop Mako Vunipola for his first appearance since fracturing his foot in November.
Match : Sale Sharks v Saracens
Date: Friday 23rd March
Venue : Edgeley Park
Kick Off : 7.45pm
Referee: Andrew Small (68th Premiership game)
Teams
Sale Sharks
15.Rob Miller, 14.Tom Brady, 13.Luther Burrell, 12.Sam Tuitupou (capt.), 11.Mark Cueto, 10.Nick Macleod, 9.Dwayne Peel, 1.Andrew Sheridan, 2.Marc Jones, 3.Tony Buckley, 4.Kearnan Myall, 5.James Gaskell, 6.Mark Easter, 7.David Seymour, 8.Andy Powell.
Replacements 16.Joe Ward, 17.Alasdair Dickinson, 18.Vadim Cobilas, 19.Tom Holmes, 20.Richie Vernon, 21.Cillian Willis, 22.Johnny Leota, 23.Will Addison.
Saracens
15 Alex Goode , 14 Duncan Taylor , 13 Chris Wyles , 12 Brad Barritt , 11 James Short , 10 Charlie Hodgson , 9 Neil de Kock , 1 John Smit , 2 Schalk Brits , 3 Matt Stevens , 4 Steve Borthwick (c) , 5 George Kruis , 6 Justin Melck , 7 Will Fraser , 8 Ernst Joubert
Replacements : 16 Jamie George , 17 Mako Vunipola , 18 Carlos Nieto , 19 Hugh Vyvyan , 20 Andy Saull , 21 Ben Spencer , 22 Adam Powell , 23 Michael Tagicakibau
