Diamond: ‘Every game is vital now for Sharks’

SALE Sharks chief Steve Diamond believes his side face five cup finals as they prepare for today’s home clash with Worcester Warriors (3pm).

With the league now at the business end of the season following a threeweek hiatus, every match in the run-in for the Sharks will carry huge significance in one of the most keenlycontested battles for a top-six spot in years.

Ahead of the visit of the Warriors, Sale currently sit in eighth place in the Premiership table but the margins are so tight in a congested mid-table section that just four points separate the Sharks from fifth-placed Leicester Tigers.

So the Sale boss says there is still everything to play for as the Sharks seek to step up their bid for place in next season’s European Challenge Cup.

“For me, every game is a hugely important for us from now on in, starting with Worcester,” Diamond told the Sale Sharks website.

“We need a bit of help around us but if we can win our three remaining home games then it will give us a good opportunity to look at finishing in the top six which is what we want to achieve to get back in the European Champions Cup.”

Sale welcome back AJ MacGinty, James O’Connor and Tom Curry after international duties.

MacGinty returns, with Sam James switching back to centre at the expense of his brother Luke.