Sale Sharks Preview – The Battle Of The North

Tomorrow the Aviva Premiership boasts the ‘battle of the North’ as Newcastle visit Sale Sharks in the second fixture of the season.

Sale will kick off their home campaign with their first home fixture of the 2013/14 season at their Salford City Stadium.

After an impressive 22-16 victory over Gloucester away at Kingsholm last weekend Sharks will be looking to continue their winning ways over recently promoted Newcastle Falcons.

Tries from Mark Cuetto and Andy Forsyth helped the Sharks to win at the weekend, adding to their current record of just one defeat in their last six games.

The Sharks had a difficult season last year struggling in a relegation battle for the majority of the season; however, after an impressive opening weekend victory the Manchester side are well on their way to proving their doubters wrong.

On the other side of the North are Newcastle, who lost last Friday night, 21-0 to Bath in the Premiership’s opening fixture. This was the first time the Falcons have failed to score a single point at home since 1989.

After a season in the Championship last year, this will be Newcastle’s first trip to Sale’s Salford City Stadium.

When the two teams last met in 2012 the Falcons won the highly competitive fixture 22-19; however, despite the victory the Falcons were unable to stay in the top flight of English rugby.

One of the most notable fixtures between the two sides was in Sale’s title winning campaign of 2005/6, the first fixture of the season, which the Manchester side won 26-25 after a late conversion was missed by Jonny Wilkinson. The victory was the first of many, which eventually saw the Sharks top the table and lift the Premiership trophy at Twickenham after beating Leicester in the final.