Danny Cipriani set for Sale Sharks start as life begins at Salford City Stadium against Saracens

READY: Former Wasps man set for debut

By Alex Morrissey

Danny Cipriani will make his first Aviva Premiership start for Sale Sharks who kick-off life at the Salford City Stadium against Saracens tomorrow.

Director of rugby Bryan Redpath has picked the former Wasps man ahead of Welsh kicker Nick MacLeod as his side bids to bounce back from their opening day 43-6 defeat at Exeter Chiefs.

Mark Cueto, Kearnan Myall and Richie Vernon will also make their first starts of the season alongside Cipriani with Marc Jones, Cillian Willis and Andy Powell all out injured.

Redpath wants his side to focus on getting the performance right in front of their own supporters at their new home.

“We’ve got to make sure that our first focus is performance. We’re playing against one of the top sides in the Aviva Premiership,” said the former Gloucester chief.

“We’ve a lot of respect for what Saracens have built over the last three or four years. It’s not going to be easy, but we need to concentrate first and foremost on ourselves, giving our supporters something to cheer in our first game in our new stadium.”

Redpath’s men have only beaten Saracens, who posted 40 points against London Irish in their opening game in the double header at Twickenham, once in the last eight meetings of the two clubs.

And Macleod, who kicked all of Sale’s points at Exeter, wants his teammates to learn from the mistakes they made on the opening day – but believes that the Sharks can put it right.

"We were our own worst enemies and we self-destructed a little bit. If you're defending for 90 per cent of game, you're never going to win games.’’

He said: ‘’One of the positives we can take is that it's in our own hands to put it right – if we do control the ball a little bit better and keep hold of possession, then you can be dangerous.’’

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