Sheridan close to return
February 06, 2012 09:30:48 UK
Sale Sharks prop Andrew Sheridan looks set to return from a shoulder injury which ruled him out of England's failed World Cup campaign.
Sheridan suffered the problem in his country's opening game of the tournament against Argentina, and has been out of action for five months. Having recently announced his decision to sign for French side Toulon, Sheridan has effectively ended his chances of a recall to the international arena.
Sale are 251.00 to finish at the top of the Aviva Premiership regular season standings while Harlequins can be backed at 2.37, Saracens at 1.66 and Northampton Saints at 41.00.
However, his return to the club scene will come as a timely boost to Sale as they restart their league campaign after a month-long break.
He's ready to go and excited about playing.
Tom Hanks
The game against Worcester Warriors may come too soon for the 40-times capped England loosehead, but Sharks' head coach Tony Hanks says he is itching to get involved.
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"He's ready to go and excited about playing, so hopefully he comes into our consideration this week," Hanks said.
"A healthy squad is key. Probably those who came along [to the game against Scarlets] saw there was a rather large unit warming up with us, and Sherry wanted to be involved in the warm-up."
Despite Andy Powell being involved in the Wales set-up, Sale will be able to call on an almost full-strength squad for Friday's encounter, particularly with Hendre Fourie showing no ill-effects in his man-of-the-match display on Saturday.
The head coach added: "A few of the guys have come back: Joe [Ward], Hendre and Sammy [Tuitupou]. The latter had a run-out today for 76 minutes before the body had had enough.
"Charlie Amesbury has now had a couple of games back from injury and that has put us in a good position now we've got lots of options."
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