Newcastle Red Bulls and Sale Sharks have both announced their sides for Friday’s Northern derby at Kingston Park, with both coaches naming strong teams.
The clubs come into the contest off the back of losses in their respective EPCR fixtures last weekend, with Newcastle going down 47-14 against the Scarlets in the Challenge Cup while Sale slipped to a 47-27 loss to Glasgow Warriors in the Champions Cup, and will be hoping for better this time around.
Newcastle could also leapfrog their opponents with a win this weekend, while Sale can climb into the top four should they bag a victory.
Christian Wade eyes up PREM record for Newcastle
Red Bulls head coach Dan McFarland has named as strong a team as possible for the clash, but all eyes will be on winger Christian Wade as he hopes to break the all-time PREM try-scoring record on Friday. The England and British and Irish Lions winger is sat on 100 top-flight tries at the time of writing, following a run of five tries in three league outings this season, but would go above Chris Ashton in the table should he score two tries against Sale. One try would also see him equal Ashton’s tally of 101.
Wade is named in an exciting back-three combination alongside Josh Hodge and Werner Kok. Chris Harris starts in the centre, while Will Rigg also makes his PREM debut for the club at inside centre. Brett Connon and Simón Benítez Cruz start in the halves.
Hoskins Sotutu, captain Tom Christie and Max Hicks form the back-row, while Cam Jordan and Oscar Usher start at lock. Elliot Millar Mills, George McGuigan and Pouri Rakete-Stones start in the front-row.
McFarland has also opted for a 6:2 split, with Zuriel Togiatama, Tom West, Francisco Moreno, Rusi Tuima, Ollie Leatherbarrow, Sam Graham, James Elliott and Zack Henry forming the bench.
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Curry brothers start together for Sale Sharks
Sale Sharks director of rugby Alex Sanderson has named brothers Tom and Ben Curry in the same starting side for the first time since June 2025, with the Sharks making four changes for the trip to Kingston Park.
Joe Carpenter gets the nod at full-back, with Tom Roebuck and Tom O’Flaherty named on the wings. Joe Marchant and Rekeiti Ma’asi White form the centre pairing, while George Ford and Dom Hanson start at fly-half and scrum-half.
The Curry brothers are joined in the back-row by Christ Tshiunza, who slots in at blindside flanker with Tom at eight and Ben at seven. Ben Bamber and Ernst van Rhyn feature in the locks, while Tomas Francis, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Nicky Smith form the front-row unit.
Sanderson has named an interesting bench combination, with Nathan Jibulu, Si McIntyre, Asher Opoku-Fordjour, Elie Canakaivata, Sam Dugdale, Alex Lozowski, Marius Louw and Arron Reed included on the replacements list.
Newcastle Red Bulls v Sale Sharks teams in full
Newcastle Red Bulls: 15 Josh Hodge, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Will Rigg, 11 Werner Kok, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Simón Benítez Cruz, 8 Hoskins Sotutu, 7 Tom Christie (c), 6 Max Hicks, 5 Cam Jordan, 4 Oscar Usher, 3 Elliot Millar Mills, 2 George McGuigan, 1 Pouri Rakete-Stones
Replacements: 16 Zuriel Togiatama, 17 Tom West, 18 Francisco Moreno, 19 Rusi Tuima, 20 Ollie Leatherbarrow, 21 Sam Graham, 22 James Elliott, 23 Zack Henry
Sale Sharks: 15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Tom Roebuck, 13 Joe Marchant, 12 Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, 11 Tom O’Flaherty, 10 George Ford, 9 Dom Hanson, 8 Tom Curry, 7 Ben Curry, 6 Christ Tshiunza, 5 Ben Bamber, 4 Ernst van Rhyn (c), 3 Tomas Francis, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Nicky Smith
Replacements: 16 Nathan Jibulu, 17 Si McIntyre, 18 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 19 Elia Canakaivata, 20 Sam Dugdale, 21 Alex Lozowski, 22 Marius Louw, 23 Arron Reed
Venue: Kingston Park
Kick-off: 19:45 BST
Referee: Matthew Carley
Assistant referees: Henry Pearson and Veryan Boscawen
TMO: Andrew Jackson
Live on: HBO Max