Sale Sharks have a mammoth task on their hands this week, with a double bill fixture with Bath in the Aviva Premiership.
The first leg on Sunday will see the Manchester team welcome a Bath side that have been struggling with poor form this season.
Sharks fans will be hoping to see their team return to winning ways in their AJ Bell fortress, after slipping to a defeat against Montpellier in the European Challenge Cup last week – their first home loss in over a year.
Tommy Taylor was frustrated with his side’s unbeaten record coming to an end and hopes they will be able to see out the Premiership season with their record intact.
“It’ll be good to get back at home, to lose after roughly twelve months is disappointing for us,” he said.
“It was our aim at the start of the season to go unbeaten so it’s not what we wanted.”
“I feel like we played well but made too many errors [against Montpellier], our lineout didn’t function and they were competing very well.
“We’re disappointed, they were a big team coming here but that doesn’t mean much.
“A lot of big sides have come here and we have beaten them.”
Taylor is keen to help recover from the loss and put in a big performance against Bath.
Sale are currently sitting seventh in the table, and will be hoping a strong finish to the season will secure them a place in European competition once more.
“It’ll good to get back on the horse, Bath are coming here, and they’ve been hurting all season so they’ll come fired up, but we have to be confident at home,” he said.
“Bath are a big side, like Montpellier, especially in the forwards.
“If we can bring that energy and that tempo that we brought tonight we’ll hopefully get our set piece back up to 100% and give our backs some good ball, where they’ve been going really well”.
A key head to head will see Sale’s Danny Cipriani face off against his England grand slam-winning opposite number George Ford.
The Sharks’ fly half has put in a string of impressive performance in recent games, as he continues his bid to wrestle the number 10 jersey from Ford for England’s tour of Australia this summer.
Tickets for Sale Sharks home game against Bath on Sunday April 17, which kicks off 2.30pm, are available on www.salesharks.com.
Image courtesy of Sale Sharks, via YouTube, with thanks
