Nathan Hines has little interest in any Premiership points target as Sale continue their quest to secure European Champions Cup qualification. Sharks are currently seventh in the Premiership table – one place off sealing a guaranteed Champions Cup place next term – with five games left and the final phase of the domestic campaign begins against visitors Gloucester on Sunday.
Sale cannot afford any slip-ups during the season’s closing stages, but the former Scotland lock is not looking beyond tackling Gloucester. “I don’t know what will get us into the top six,” he said. “All I know is we want to win every game. If we are thinking about how many games we need to win, that will be our undoing.
“We are just thinking about Gloucester, win that one, chalk that one up and then move on to the next. That is the best and most efficient way to look at it.”
The England international Danny Cipriani is back in Sale’s No10 shirt, while the on-loan centre Brendan Macken makes his first start for Gloucester, featuring alongside England’s Billy Twelvetrees in midfield.
The young Gloucester prospects Billy Burns and Callum Braley feature at full-back and scrum-half, respectively, and the prop Nick Wood has recovered from injury to start for the first time since early January.
Gloucester are six points behind Sale, so defeat at the AJ Bell Stadium would effectively end any hope of finishing in the Premiership’s top half. “From Sunday onwards, we will need to build on the performances that we put in over the past few weeks,” David Humphreys, Gloucester’s rugby director, said.
