Heineken Cup / Pool One Preview / Sale v Munster: A handy one for Munster to start with then. Plenty of good judges made Sale Sharks their pick to be the best team in England this season, and early indications are vindicating that verdict, with last Friday night's 18-10 win over Wasps propelling them to the top of the Premiership and priming them nicely for this.
Aside from the vibrancy which they bring as the new emerging force in England, Sale and their galaxy of a dozen internationals (seven of them Lions) from seven different nations have a very rounded look.
Any team with Andrew Sheridan in the frontrow and the athletic pair of Chris Jones and Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe as locks can compete in the setpieces, and any backrow with the brute strength and big hitting of Jason White and Sebastien Chabal can biff it with the best of them.
Without the inspirational Paul O'Connell, who'd have loved this, Munster's all-Irish international pack are going to meet a force unlike any they've faced this season, while the shoot-out between outhalves Charlie Hodgson and Ronan O'Gara will be worth watching.
Sale also have the explosive finishing of Mark Cueto especially, who, Warren Gatland admitted, caused more advance planning in the Wasps think tank than Jason Robinson.
Coach Kingsley Jones is relatively bullish. "It could be fair to say that we have not risen to the challenge in the two seasons we have played in the Heineken Cup, winning just three of our 12 fixtures. However, now we are setting our sights a good deal higher. It is not good enough just to keep qualifying for the Heineken Cup and I am targeting a home quarter-final draw."
In previous years the thought of O'Connell, Christian Cullen, Mike Mullins and Anthony Horgan all being sidelined would have filled Munster's supporters with dread. But the signings of Gary Connolly, Anthon Pitout, Federico Pucciariello and Mick O'Driscoll have strengthened their hand.
All bar Pucciariello, who moves to the bench to make way for the fit-again John Hayes, start, while, surprisingly, in addition to Barry Murphy, Tomas O'Leary has also been retained, ahead of Peter Stringer. The pair will make their tournament debuts. And the exciting young Kiwi outhalf Jeremy Manning, who is also a European Cup novice, replaces Paul Burke, whose wife gave birth during the week, on the bench.
"Recruiting has gone well and the younger fellas have come in and said: 'Hold on here now, I'm not willing to stand aside and let some other fella come in'," said coach Declan Kidney. "And hopefully what they'll do is all of them will bring one another along."
Still, it's quite a baptism of fire for the young backs, especially O'Leary. If he can reproduce some of the electrifying eye for a gap which he displayed against Leinster, it will certainly give Munster another unexpected dimension to their game.
The lineout battle looks critical. Munster will be competitive, you'd expect, especially if they reproduce the form shown against the Ospreys and Leinster.
But this is one of those confined, 10,500 capacity grounds which, on a Friday night with a French referee, generally throws up home wins. Munster will have Roy Keane, who visited the team hotel last night, among their supporters in the ground, but a bonus point may be the most they can expect. That might not be the best of starts but it might not be the worst either.
SALE SHARKS: D Larrechea; M Cueto, M Taylor, E Seveali'i, J Robinson (capt); C Hodgson, S Martens; A Sheridan, A Titterrell, S Turner, C Jones, I Fernandez Lobbe, J White, M Lund, S Chabal. Replacements: S Bruno, B Stewart, B Coutts, D Schofield, V Courrent, R Todd, O Ripol.
MUNSTER: S Payne; J Kelly, B Murphy, G Connolly, A Pitout; R O'Gara, T O'Leary; M Horan, F Sheahan, J Hayes, D O'Callaghan, M O'Driscoll, A Quinlan, D Leamy, A Foley (capt). Replacements: J Flannery, F Pucciariello, T Hogan, D Wallace, P Stringer, J Manning, R Henderson.
Referee: Joel Jutge (France).
Previous meetings: None.
Formguide: Sale: W L W W L W W. Munster: W W L W W W.
EC record: Sale: Pl 12, W 3, L 9. 2002-3: Pool stages. 2003-4 Pool. Munster Pl 68, W 45, D 1, L 22. 1995-96: Pool. 96-97: Pool. 97-98: Pool. 98-99: q/f. 99-00: r/up. 00-01: s/f. 01-02: r/up. 02-03: s/f. 03-04: s/f. 04-05: q/f.
Leading EC try-scorers: Sale: S Hanley, M Cueto 3 each. Munster: A Foley 20, A Horgan, J Holland 13 each.
Leading points scorers: Sale: C Hodgson 47. Munster: R O'Gara 649.
Betting (Paddy Power): 1/3 Sale, 22/1 Draw, 9/4 Munster. Handicap odds (=Munster +8pts) 10/11 Sale, 20/1 Draw, 10/11 Munster.
Forecast: Sale to win.
Edgeley Park, 7.30, On TV: Sky Sports 1
