21 - 36 FT 36 - 5 FT 38 - 26 FT 21 - 31 FT 57 - 19 FT 57 - 33 FT 21 - 25 FT 44 - 10 FT 19 - 22 FT 36 - 12 FT 53 - 22 FT 23 - 21 FT 40 - 26 FT 43 - 38 FT 43 - 40 FT 52 - 26 FT 33 - 26 FT 21 - 27 FT 35 - 46 FT 20 - 10 FT 17 - 48 FT Thursday 03:10 Thursday 15:00 PREM Rugby England trio to make Sale Sharks debut in PREM Rugby Cup Jon Newcombe Published: 10 hours ago | 31 August 2026 06:49 EDT mens gallagher-premiership Tom Curry of England talks to Courtney Lawes of England prior to the Autumn Nations Series 2024 match between England and New Zealand All Blacks at the Allianz Stadium on November 02, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Alex Davidson - RFU/The RFU Collection via Getty Images) Comment Share Sale Sharks boss Alex Sanderson has done ‘a Rassie Erasmus’ and gone early in naming his team for Sunday’s PREM Rugby Cup opener at home to Bath. ADVERTISEMENT While some clubs will treat the first batch of Cup games as a chance to give fringe players a run out, Sale have gone full bore in their selection, handing debuts to England internationals Courtney Lawes, Joe Marchant and Alex Lozowski. Loose forward Lawes and centre/wing Marchant were big-name signings from France, while fly-half/centre Lozowski returns north having made a name for himself at Leeds before enjoying a stellar career at Wasps and then Saracens. VIDEO England stars Bevan Rodd, Tom Roebuck and Joe Carpenter and Scotland internationals Gus Warr and Arron Reed are also named in a strong starting XV. Two other summer recruits, Christ Tshiunza and Xavier Roe, will start the first game of the new season on the bench. Lock Ernst van Rhyn retains the captaincy from last season and is partnered in the engine room by the gargantuan Ben Bamber, as Sale field a pack big on physicality. Meanwhile, Bath’s pre-season programme opened over the weekend with a 53-42 defeat away to Perpignan. ADVERTISEMENT Bath did the Cup double over Sale last season en route to making the semi-finals, winning 20-0 at home before thrashing them 60-19 in Salford. Sale Sharks starting XV: 15. Joe Carpenter, 14. Tom Roebuck, 13. Joe Marchant, 12. Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, 11. Arron Reed, 10. Alex Lozowski, 9. Gus Warr; 1. Bevan Rodd, 2. Nathan Jibulu, 3. Tye Raymont, 4. Ernst van Rhyn (c), 5. Ben Bamber, 6. Courtney Lawes, 7. Sam Dugdale, 8. Jacques Vermeulen. 16. Alfie Longstaff, 17. Ralph McEachran, 18. Patreece Bell, 19. Christ Tshiunza, 20. Tristan Woodman, 21. Xavier Roe, 22. Ollie Davies, 23. Marius Louw. Related The many ways Courtney Lawes' 'game has really evolved' in France Sale Sharks-bound former England captain Courtney Lawes believes his two-season stint in France's Pro D2 has helped him evolve as a player, which will help him "make an impact" upon his return to the Gallagher PREM next season. Read Now Your home for rugby. Download the RugbyPass app on the App Store (iOS) and Google Play (Android) now! Follow your favourite teams, tournaments and players, and get personalised news and Match Centre notifications direct to your device. From live rugby streams and upcoming fixtures to breaking news, in-depth analysis and live scores, RugbyPass has everything you need to stay connected to the game. ADVERTISEMENT LIVE {{item.title}} Trending on RugbyPass 1 Jason Ryan: All Blacks selectors feeling RGR pinch ahead of third Test 30 2 What Rassie’s risky business says about the Springboks 40 3 Springboks vs All Blacks 2T takes: The Barrett-Jordan issue, three big missed chances 48 4 'Telling guys to get out': Dave Rennie wants faster ball speed for All Blacks in third Test 71 5 Rassie Erasmus on why he subbed Siya Kolisi two minutes into the second half 49 6 'I'm not going to moan my arse off': Erasmus fires back at Rennie's accusation 150 7 All Blacks player ratings vs Springboks | 2nd Test Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry 2026 59 8 Springbok player ratings vs All Blacks | 2nd Test Rugby's Greatest Rivalry 2026 34 Comments 0 Comments LOGIN Log in to comment Be the first to comment... Join free and tell us what you really think! Sign up for free ADVERTISEMENT Latest Long Reads LONG READ 'The All Blacks are asking South Africa all the questions that matter' The world champions maintain a vice-like grip on the set-piece, but New Zealand are hurting them in different ways as the Greatest Rivalry series hots up. 117 LONG READ Pouri Rakete-Stones: Newcastle's Maori strongman with Red Bull flair and England ambitions The former Hurricane is English-qualified, and eager to make a splash as Red Bull's fascinating overhaul of Newcastle takes shape. 1 LONG READ How the All Blacks leadership group thrived in the Johannesburg cauldron The maturity and resolve shown by Dave Rennie's team at Ellis Park bodes well for the Rugby World Cup crusade next year 8 Comments on RugbyPass B Bazzallina 12 minutes ago 'The All Blacks are asking South Africa all the questions that matter' With Tony Brown as any coach will be they just wanna win series trophies games do you not enjoy beating your mates at golf? 115 Go to comments M MM 12 minutes ago Victor Matfield: 'He showed why he's probably the best Springbok of all time' What a relevant comment HS. Does the HS stand for Horse S…? 15 Go to comments R RugCs 14 minutes ago 'The All Blacks are asking South Africa all the questions that matter' There was no contact and Ardie did a Neymar. Unlike the double headshots on de Allende by Ardie and Lomax. https://x.com/Oldmangaming4u/status/2094146532291539218/video/1 ... 115 Go to comments J JD Kiwi 16 minutes ago 'The All Blacks are asking South Africa all the questions that matter' Good point about the lineout calling - we were strong in the lineout (but not scrum)when Lord was on. I'm certainly in favour of bringing in Darry. 115 Go to comments B Bazzallina 17 minutes ago 'The All Blacks are asking South Africa all the questions that matter' It’s amazing how many people are having very strong opinions about what is happening in the scrum off the broadcast coverage and we are not even seeing much of what is going on no spidercam or reverse angle replays if anything think there has been a kind of surprising amount of stable scrums and relatively minimal resets to what it could have been. And for all it’s worth they have getting back into it pretty quickly. ... 115 Go to comments T Tryrannosaurus Rex 18 minutes ago 'One-week wonders': Dave Rennie's All Blacks on World Rankings shortlist I’m an all blacks fan and I’m disappointed 5 Go to comments J JD Kiwi 20 minutes ago 'The All Blacks are asking South Africa all the questions that matter' I’d say that the breakdown work was even more impressive! Rennie prides himself on his napalm clearances but but they still managed some vital turnovers. Fits with Nick’s stat about needing to score in the first few phases. 115 Go to comments J JW 21 minutes ago All Blacks happy to leave midweek games behind as pivotal Soweto Test beckons Look at the reply and pay attention to the ref penalizing them. 33 Go to comments J JW 21 minutes ago All Blacks happy to leave midweek games behind as pivotal Soweto Test beckons Also hope the Boks actually engage at the third time of asking at the scrums. And improve on their 75% return off their own feed to the ABs 100%. ... 33 Go to comments J JD Kiwi 26 minutes ago 'The All Blacks are asking South Africa all the questions that matter' More that his players have more chance of winning with a static, power based game. 115 Go to comments J JD Kiwi 28 minutes ago 'The All Blacks are asking South Africa all the questions that matter' Didn't see much of this year's comp but last year Paed and his mates were electric, the forwards merely good. 115 Go to comments C Carlos 28 minutes ago 'The All Blacks are asking South Africa all the questions that matter' Do you think that Rassie side-lined him because he’s going back relatively soon? 115 Go to comments B Bazzallina 30 minutes ago 'The All Blacks are asking South Africa all the questions that matter' They have won 6 on the trot under AG I didn’t enjoy the big scrum stoppage and chitchat but you gotta do what you gotta do and prefer that with clock stopped before they set rather than set crap happens and now let’s get up and now have a chitchat it could have been much worse with nothing happening imo 115 Go to comments I Itsallacademic 31 minutes ago Fissler Confidential: European giants target Bok prop Ntuthuko Mchunu No idea. But it isn’t the first time they have claimed Dobbo is as there, so they might honestly be under the impression he is at the Sharks. ... 4 Go to comments J JD Kiwi 32 minutes ago 'The All Blacks are asking South Africa all the questions that matter' I think for the second year in a row Lomax isn't properly fit. A real worry because Tosi is struggling and the other tighthead is pretty green. Ofa has played a lot of tighthead but not recently and I'm not sure that he's up to speed. ... 115 Go to comments c cnw 37 minutes ago 'The All Blacks are asking South Africa all the questions that matter' Yeah agree with that NB - he is a mean ball carrier and probably NZs top jackler - would really put the cat among the pidgeons with 10-15 to go. 115 Go to comments J JD Kiwi 43 minutes ago 'The All Blacks are asking South Africa all the questions that matter' I'd certainly start rotating the forwards too GS. Not because of bad play, but to get fresh legs out there. Darry and Tuipulotu would make a great one two tighthead lock punch, Jacobson as you say could do with a break in favour of Blackadder or Lakai, EDG back at loose head. And I'd bring the bench front row on earlier. Although I'd stick with Vaa'i or Parker on the blindside. We need the heft. ... 115 Go to comments G GrahamVF 46 minutes ago 'The All Blacks are asking South Africa all the questions that matter' Kwagga has sevens instinct which is why he scores so often when he comes on - he has an uncanny knack of being at the right place at the right time. 115 Go to comments N NoLongerARuck 51 minutes ago 'The All Blacks are asking South Africa all the questions that matter' I dont think anything will change, The U20 team that won the championship this year play exactly like the Boks. They bashed the front door down of every team or put them through a bloody war of attrition. Their scrum too was powerful and they kept milking pens to get easy entries. The U20’s look fancy but they are being prepared to play Bok rugby 115 Go to comments J JD Kiwi 54 minutes ago 'The All Blacks are asking South Africa all the questions that matter' I reckon that Rassie will stick with his tried and true gameplan against the top teams while Eben and co are still somewhere near their best. They're easily the best in the world at it and aren't consistently good enough at Tonyball or the Flannery defence. When Paed and co take over things will change. They're used to a more expensive strategy and it'll be difficult for anyone to replicate the platinum generation’s forward dominance. ... 115 Go to comments
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