Saracens vs Sale Predictions - Saracens too strong for Sale in Rugby Premiership clash

Nigel Williams

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Last updated: 1 hour ago

Nigel Williams 1 hour ago

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Saracens are favourites after a dominant 85-19 win over Sale and a dramatic Leicester away victory.
Sale have lost four of their last five away matches, struggling for form.
Recommendation: Back Saracens to cover the -10.5 handicap at home.

Saracens too strong for Sale in Rugby Premiership clash (Getty Images)

Saracens vs Sale Predictions

Saracens are firm favourites with strong early momentum and a recent 85-19 win against Sale, whereas Sale is looking to bounce back from opening struggles. My best bet is Saracens to cover the -10.5 handicap at home.

Saracens vs Sale Predictions
Head to Head
Saracens Form
Saracens Injuries & Team News
Sale Form
Sale Injuries & Team News

Saracens have won 4 of their last 5 home matches.
Saracens have won 3 of last 5 meetings against Sale.
Saracens come into this match on the back of a 40-38 victory away at Leicester.
Sale have lost 4 of their last 5 away matches.
Sale lost 34-24 to Bristol at home in their previous match.

Head to Head

Saracens have won three of the last five meetings against Sale.

Saracens won their recent match against Sale 85-19 in April.

Saracens Form

Saracens edged the Leicester Tigers 40-38 in a 12-try Premiership opening match thriller away at Mattioli Woods Welford Road, after leading 21-12 at the break.

Saracens jumped out to an early lead with tries from Gonzalez and Elliott inside the opening 10 minutes. Saracens survived playing with 14 men after Nick Isiekwe received a 20-minute red card in the 20th minute.

Leicester fought back in the second half, powered by a hat-trick of tries from Gabriel Hamer-Webb that helped shift the momentum.

Trailing late in the game, Saracens capitalised on Tarek Haffar's yellow-card, with Rotimi Segun crossing for his second try in the 72nd minute to secure a dramatic two-point victory.

Saracens have been in impressive form at home, winning four of their last five matches in all competitions. Their previous home results include wins against Toulouse (20-14), Newcastle (73-14), a loss against Leicester (24-20), followed by wins against Gloucester (30-14), and Harlequins (26-12).

Saracens Injuries & Team News

Starting XV: 1 Eroni Mawi, 2 Theo Dan, 3 Marcus Street, 4 Maro Itoje, 5 Hugh Tizard, 6 Nick Isiekwe, 7 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 8 Alfie Barbeary, 9 Tomos Williams, 10 Fergus Burke, 11 Rotimi Segun, 12 Sione Va'enuku, 13 Nick Tompkins, 14 Jack Bracken, 15 Elliot Daly.

Replacements: 16 Eoghan Clarke, 17 Alex O'Driscoll, 18 Alec Clarey, 19 George Martin, 20 Nathan Michelow, 21 Ben Earl, 22 Charlie Bracken, 23 Max Malins.

Sale Form

Sale Sharks lost 34–24 to the Bristol Bears in their Premiership season opener at home at the CorpAcq Stadium after trailing 20-10 at half-time.

Sale suffered from high penalty counts and turnovers despite dominating carry metres.

Sale try-scorers were Tom O'Flaherty (2) and Luke Cowan-Dickie (1), with George Ford adding two conversions and a penalty.

Sale featured eight debutants in their line-up and suffered from handling errors, conceding their first opening-day defeat in seven seasons.

Sale have struggled on the road, losing four of their last five matches in all competitions. Their previous away results include a loss against Leinster (43-13), a win against Harlequins (52-33), followed by losses against Gloucester (21-15), Newcastle (45-42), and Gloucester (43-26).

Sale Injuries & Team News

Starting XV: 1 Nicky Smith, 2 Nathan Jibulu, 3 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 4 Ernst van Rhyn, 5 Ben Bamber, 6 Courtney Lawes, 7 Ben Curry, 8 Jacques Vermeulen, 9 Gus Warr, 10 George Ford, 11 Arron Reed, 12 Alex Lozowski, 13 Joe Marchant, 14 Tom O'Flaherty, 15 Joe Carpenter.

Replacements: 16 Ethan Caine, 17 Si McIntyre, 18 Tomas Francis, 19 Christ Tshiunza, 20 Elia Canakaivata, 21 Dom Hanson, 22 Marius Louw, 23 Ponipate Loga

Verdict

Saracens v Sale

Saracens are firm favourites with strong early momentum. whereas Sale is looking to bounce back from opening struggles.

Saracens -10.5

Handicap

@1,90 - 1 Unit

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Nigel combines a love of business and sport as one of the leading experts on South African sport.

Since a young age, he played football, cricket, golf, tennis and squash, and is an avid Arsenal supporter.

His initial foray into the business world was in the financial industry, completing various diploma’s including financial and investment management and credit management, and held various positions in banking.

He subsequently worked on the Leadership media publication and the Global Africa Network Media Trade and Investment platforms, before switching to sport.