Wales international Louie Hennessey will make his return for Bath Rugby when they take on Sale Sharks at the CorpAcq Stadium on Sunday 29th March in Gallagher PREM Round 12 (3pm).
Bath Rugby will be chasing another Gallagher PREM double for the season when they visit Sale Sharks on Sunday 29th March, having beaten the North West outfit 28-16 here at The Rec in October | Photo © Richard Briggs
The centre made his debut for the principality in their Guinness Six Nations defeat by Ireland on Friday 6th March.
And he will wear 13 as the Blue, Black & White face a Sale side featuring four players who turned out for England in the Six Nations.
Scott Kirk and Vilikesa Sela will prop for Johann van Graan’s outfit, lining up either side of hooker Dan Frost.
Will Jeanes will partner the returning Ross Molony in the second row.
Captaining from number 8, Miles Reid will be joined in the back row by Ted Hill and Ethan Staddon.
Scrum-half will be Tom Carr-Smith, and Santi Carreras will be fly-half.
Cameron Redpath will join Hennessey in midfield, Will Muir and Joe Cokanasiga will operate on the wings and Tom de Glanville will complete the starting XV at full-back.
Kepu Tuipulotu, Beno Obano, Thomas du Toit, Charlie Ewels, Ewan Richards and Alfie Barbeary will be the replacement forwards.
And Bernard van der Linde and Chris Harris will provide cover for the backs.
Bath starting XV: 1 Scott Kirk, 2 Dan Frost, 3 Vilikesa Sela, 4 Will Jeanes, 5 Ross Molony, 6 Ted Hill, 7 Ethan Staddon, 8 Miles Reid, 9 Tom Carr-Smith, 10 Santi Carreras, 11 Will Muir, 12 Cameron Redpath, 13 Louie Hennessey, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 15 Tom de Glanville.
Bath replacements: 16 Kepu Tuipulotu, 17 Beno Obano, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Charlie Ewels, 20 Ewan Richards, 21 Bernard van der Linde, 22 Chris Harris, 23 Alfie Barbeary.
The Sharks will welcome back England stars Bevan Rodd, George Ford, Tom Roebuck and Luke Cowan-Dickie to their starting XV.
There will a start for Nathan Jibulu in the unfamiliar openside flanker position, and Rob du Preez will be restored to the 13 shirt after filling in at fly-half during Ford’s absence.
Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson has picked academy props Ralph McEachran and Tye Raymont on a bench that also features the experience of Dan du Preez – who will join Bath in the summer – Marius Louw, Gus Warr and Tom O’Flaherty.
Whereas Bath steamrollered Saracens 62-15 on Friday 20th March in Round 11, the Sharks were beaten 26-14 at Exeter Chiefs the following day.
And Sanderson knows that his men will have to start well if they are to have a chance against the reigning champions.
He said: “Bath were really clinical and really sharp last week and they’re number one in the PREM at scoring from transition. So we’ve got to limit or at least control how we turn the ball over to them.
“But that’s just one area. We know we have to be on it in every area of the game against Bath.
“We didn’t start the game against Exeter well enough and we can’t afford to do that again this weekend against the champions.”
Sale starting XV: 1 Bevan Rodd, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3 James Harper, 4 Ernst van Rhyn, 5 Ben Bamber, 6 Sam Dugdale, 7 Nathan Jibulu, 8 Jacques Vermeulen, 9 Raffi Quirke, 10 George Ford, 11 Arron Reed, 12 Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, 13 Rob du Preez, 14 Tom Roebuck, 15 Joe Carpenter.
Sale replacements: 16 Ethan Caine, 17 Ralph McEachran, 18 Tye Raymont, 19 Dan du Preez, 20 Jos Gilmore, 21 Gus Warr, 22 Marius Louw, 23 Tom O’Flaherty.
Both sides’ players will mark World Down Syndrome Day 2026 by running out in odd socks.
People with the syndrome have an extra copy of the sock-shaped 21st chromosome – so to raise awareness of the genetic condition, the Down’s Syndrome Association launched the Lots of Socks campaign.
Tickets for the Sale versus Bath match can be purchased here.
Bath’s Declan Treacey, Ben Allen and Max Hooper have been named in the England U18 squad for the U18 Men’s Six Nations Festival in Vichy, France.
England will assemble at the Hazelwood Centre, Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, on Monday 30th March ahead of their opening encounter – against Ireland at the Stade Municipal Louis Darragon on Friday 3rd April.
Treacey skippered England U18 in their warm-up match against France at Chinnor RFC on Saturday 14th March – but the captaincy at the festival will be rotated to maximise leadership development opportunities.
Meanwhile, the Blue, Black & White’s Italy international Enoch Opoku-Gyamfi scored two tries as the University of Bath came from 27-0 down to beat visitors Cardiff University 48-30 on Wednesday 25th March to reach the British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) Super Rugby Milk Championship semi-finals.
The hosts’ other points in a quarter-final clash watched by 1,000 spectators came from a try apiece by Max Pearce, Will Keylock, Iwan Coyle, Sam Winters and Freddy Rossigneux, five conversions from Will Roue and a penalty courtesy of James Beverley.
University of Bath starting XV: 1 Jacob Yates, 2 Max Pearce, 3 Diamond Ayiehfor, 4 Isaac Sprenger, 5 Rory McKnight, 6 Tate Williams, 7 Connor Treacey, 8 Enoch Opoku-Gyamfi, 9 Isaac Mears, 10 Will Roue, 11 Sam Winters, 12 Luc Anfield, 13 Jack Harrison, 14 Austin Emens, 15 Freddy Rossigneux.
University of Bath replacements: 16 Oscar Thomas, 17 Claudius Wheeler, 18 Alfie Griffin, 19 Albert Dmitriev, 20 Will Keylock, 21 Iwan Coyle, 22 Roman Andrews, 23 James Beverley.
In the last four, the University of Bath will entertain Durham University at the Sports Training Village on Wednesday 8th April (6.30pm).
