"You get to this stage of the season and it's never ideal to have to rest someone but, at the same time, if you don't take an enforced rest then we have seen what happened to someone like Nick Abendanon (who picked up a hamstring injury)."

"We've got to a stage where there are a couple of guys who have pretty much been running covered in Band Aids and we have had our eye on those guys and have been a little concerned about them from a fatigue point of view. "

Record kicker, Olly Barkley will therefore be on the bench, with Shaun Berne starting at fly half. Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu steps in at inside centre, with Andrew Higgins back on the wing.

The Bath team to face Sale is as follows:

15. Nick Abendanon
14. Andrew Higgins
13. Tom Cheeseman
12. Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu
11. Matt Banahan
10. Shaun Berne

9. Michael Claassens
1. Matt Stevens
2. Lee Mears
3. Duncan Bell
4. Steve Borthwick (c)
5. Danny Grewcock
6. Peter Short
7. Michael Lipman
8. Chris Goodman

Replacements:

16. Pieter Dixon
17. David Flatman
18. Martin Purdy
19. Zak Feaunati
20. Mike Baxter
21. Alex Crockett
22. Olly Barkley