Sale Sharks enter 2026-27 in a compelling position. They finished seventh in the PREM at 5-13 last season, yet reached a Champions Cup quarterfinal and responded by assembling an ambitious recruitment class.
Alex Sanderson now has a deeper pack, more weapons around George Ford and Mike Forshaw back in charge of a defense that conceded 602 league points. The question is whether all that talent can turn Sale from dangerous underachievers into playoff contenders again.
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These five players are not ranked from best to worst. Together, they explain the five biggest parts of Sale's story: control, defensive identity, leadership, attacking evolution and the future.
George Ford, Fly-Half
Start with the player around whom everything else makes sense. Ford remains Sale's first-choice fly-half, goal kicker and organizing brain, and the 2026-27 roster has been constructed to give him more attacking help.
Ford reached his 200th Premiership appearance in January after returning from a groin injury over Christmas, then made his 50th Sale appearance against the Hollywoodbets Sharks in the Champions Cup. His established value is game management. When Sale want to squeeze opponents, Ford can move them around the field with high kicks, territorial kicking and pressure.
Sanderson has said Sale want to "run more, play more," and Ford now has Joe Marchant, Alex Lozowski and Ponipate Loganimasi joining a backline already containing Tom Roebuck and Joe Carpenter. Instead of asking Ford to manufacture everything, Sale can surround him with secondary playmaking and line-breaking threats.
He is also difficult to replace. Rob du Preez has departed, leaving Lozowski as the most proven senior cover at 10. Sale's championship ceiling therefore depends on Ford staying available and turning an upgraded backline into a coherent attack.
Tom Curry, Back Row
If Ford controls Sale with the ball, Curry helps define them without it.
Sale's traditional identity under Sanderson has centered on collisions, breakdown pressure and confrontational defense. That identity collapsed badly in 2025-26, when the Sharks conceded 90 tries in 18 PREM matches. Mike Forshaw's return as defense coach makes repairing that problem the defining project of the season, and Curry is the forward most capable of changing its personality.
His influence goes beyond wearing No. 7. Sale used Curry at No. 8 repeatedly last season, and his ability to win or slow breakdown ball, carry into traffic and make repeated defensive efforts allows Sanderson to build different back-row combinations around him.
Those combinations are now deep. Courtney Lawes, Ben Curry, Jacques Vermeulen, Elia Canakaivata, Sam Dugdale and Christ Tshiunza offer carrying, lineout ability, work rate and physicality.
Sale do not need Curry to do everything. They need him to make their defense feel like Sale's again.
Ernst van Rhyn, Lock/Back Row
This selection explains how Sale intend to turn an impressive collection of players into a functioning team.
Van Rhyn was appointed captain before 2025-26 and remains the logical captain entering this season. He is under contract through 2029 and offers versatility between lock and back row, defensive presence and continuity during an offseason of change.
That continuity matters. Sale have added Lawes, Tshiunza, Canakaivata, JJ Scheepers, Nicky Smith, Tomas Francis and Cebo Dlamini to the forwards. Those arrivals create competition but also require combinations to develop quickly.
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Van Rhyn is the stabilizer inside that transition. The strongest projected XV can retain his established lock partnership with Ben Bamber while deploying Lawes at blindside, giving Sale a lineout and defensive weapon without dismantling an existing combination.
With Ford directing the attack and Curry setting the defensive tone, Van Rhyn's job is less visible: keep an evolving, star-heavy pack connected.
Joe Marchant, Outside Center
Courtney Lawes is Sale's headline recruit. Marchant may be the signing who changes their rugby most.
The England international arrives from Stade Français to address a specific need at outside center: pace, defensive intelligence and threatening line-running around Ford. His arrival becomes even more significant because Rob du Preez, Sale's midfield and playmaking utility piece, is gone.
The potential combination is straightforward. Lozowski can operate as a secondary distributor at inside center, Ford can manipulate defenders from 10 and Marchant can attack space outside them. That gives Sale a different route to generating line breaks rather than relying on territory, collisions and structured red-zone opportunities.
Marchant also fits the tactical shift Sanderson has described. Sale scored 75 league tries last season despite winning only five matches, so the objective is not to discard their attack and start over. It is to make that attack more varied against better opponents.
Marchant could be the connective piece that makes that happen.
Asher Opoku-Fordjour, Tighthead Prop
Opoku-Fordjour represents something different from the veteran-heavy recruitment drive: the next generation of Sale's pack is arriving.
He is young enough to be viewed as part of the club's future but established enough that "prospect" undersells his current role. The research identifies him as an England-level tighthead and projects him to start in Sale's strongest XV.
His competition demonstrates how seriously Sale upgraded the front row. Tomas Francis arrives with 77 Wales caps and offers a scrum-heavy alternative, while Cebo Dlamini adds another option. At loosehead, Bevan Rodd and Nicky Smith create strong competition.
That depth should allow Sale to rotate without surrendering their physical identity, important across PREM and Champions Cup demands.
Opoku-Fordjour offers mobility and upside within that structure. If Sale's reconstructed roster is designed to win immediately through veterans such as Lawes, Smith and Francis, he represents the other half of the plan: a player who can contribute to a title push now while becoming a foundational Shark afterward.
That balance captures Sale entering 2026-27. Ford supplies control, Curry the defensive edge, Van Rhyn the stability, Marchant the new attacking dimension and Opoku-Fordjour the future. Sale proved they could score and occasionally compete with Europe's best. Now these five help determine whether a rebuilt squad can do it consistently enough to challenge for trophies across a demanding domestic and European season with expectations now fully transformed again.
Sale Sharks 2026-27 Frequently Asked Questions
How Can Rugby Fans In The United States Watch Sale Sharks On FloRugby?
Rugby fans in the United States can watch Sale Sharks throughout the 2026-27 season on FloRugby, with matches also available to stream through the FloSports app.
Sale Sharks 2026-27 Schedule: Every PREM And Champions Cup Match
Sale Sharks 2026-27 PREM Schedule
- Round 1: Sale Sharks vs. Bristol Bears, Sept. 26, 2026
- Round 2: Saracens vs. Sale Sharks, Oct. 4, 2026
- Round 3: Sale Sharks vs. Harlequins, Oct. 11, 2026
- Round 4: Newcastle Red Bulls vs. Sale Sharks, Oct. 23, 2026
- Round 5: Bath Rugby vs. Sale Sharks, Oct. 31, 2026
- Round 6: Sale Sharks vs. Exeter Chiefs, Dec. 6, 2026
- Round 7: Leicester Tigers vs. Sale Sharks, Dec. 19, 2026
- Round 8: Sale Sharks vs. Gloucester Rugby, Dec. 26, 2026
- Round 9: Northampton Saints vs. Sale Sharks, Jan. 3, 2027
- Round 10: Sale Sharks vs. Leicester Tigers, Jan. 23, 2027
- Round 11: Bristol Bears vs. Sale Sharks, weekend of March 20, 2027
- Round 12: Sale Sharks vs. Bath Rugby, weekend of March 27, 2027
- Round 13: Exeter Chiefs vs. Sale Sharks, weekend of April 17, 2027
- Round 14: Sale Sharks vs. Saracens, weekend of April 24, 2027
- Round 15: Gloucester Rugby vs. Sale Sharks, weekend of May 8, 2027
- Round 16: Sale Sharks vs. Northampton Saints, weekend of May 15, 2027
- Round 17: Harlequins vs. Sale Sharks, weekend of May 29, 2027
- Round 18: Sale Sharks vs. Newcastle Red Bulls, weekend of June 5, 2027
Sale Sharks 2026-27 Champions Cup Pool Schedule
- Champions Cup Round 1: Sale Sharks vs. Glasgow Warriors, Oct. 17, 2026
- Champions Cup Round 2: Leinster Rugby vs. Sale Sharks, Dec. 12, 2026
- Champions Cup Round 3: Sale Sharks vs. Clermont Auvergne, Jan. 10, 2027
- Champions Cup Round 4: Pau vs. Sale Sharks, Jan. 16, 2027