Sharks’ England stars return and two Academy graduates will make their Gallagher Premiership debuts as Alex Sanderson names a strong side for the round one clash with Gloucester under the Thursday night lights (live on TNT Sports)
Bevan Rodd, Asher Opoku-Fordjour, Ben Curry, George Ford, Tom Roebuck and Joe Carpenter all start against George Skivington’s men while new club captain Ernst van Rhyn will lead the team for the first time.
Academy scrum-half Dom Hanson and back-rower Tristan Woodman will make their Prem bows from the replacements bench at the newly-named CorpAcq Stadium.
Starting XV:
15.Joe Carpenter, 14. Tom Roebuck, 13. Rob du Preez, 12. Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, 11. Tom O’Flaherty, 10. George Ford, 9. Gus Warr; 1. Bevan Rodd, 2. Nathan Jibulu, 3. Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 4. Ernst van Rhyn ©, 5. Ben Bamber, 6. Jacques Vermeulen, 7. Ben Curry, 8. Sam Dugdale.
Replacements:
16. Ethan Caine, 17. Simon McIntyre, 18. WillGriff John, 19. Hyron Andrews, 20. Tom Burrow, 21. Dom Hanson, 22. Arron Reed, 23. Tristan Woodman.
