SALE Sharks step out into the cauldron that is Welford Road tonight hoping a largely inexperienced side can avoid a Halloween fright night.

At first glance, their final EDF Energy Cup pool clash at Leicester appears to be little more than an exercise in damage limitation.

Narrow defeats to Cardiff and Bath mean the Sharks have no chance of progressing through to the semi-finals, whereas the rampant Tigers still harbour an outside hope of making the last four.

And with injury and international calls having eaten into his squad, Sale's director of rugby Philippe Saint-Andre has again opted to field the bulk of the Academy and fringe players who served him so well in those two close defeats earlier this month.

Saint-Andre's selection options were further limited by the news that Kiwi forward Kristian Ormsby had a small knee operation last week, although he should be fit for next month's Guinness Premiership clash with Worcester.

In having to mix and match his slender resources, Saint-Andre has been forced to deploy winger David Doherty at full-back while Nick Macleod switches from 15 to fly-half.

It's hardly ideal preparation, particularly for a trip to such an imposing venue such as Welford Road, but Saint-Andre insists his young charges have nothing to lose and everything to gain from tonight.

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"We know that we cannot qualify for the semi-finals but this is an excellent opportunity for the younger players to push for a place in the starting line up during the autumn internationals and beyond," the Frenchman insisted.

"We have decided to field a mix between our young players and those guys who need game time.

"It's not easy because it's a competition that we are out of but we are looking to develop our young players such as Carl Fearns, Marc Jones Rob O'Donnell, David Tait and Chris Leck while some of the more experienced guys like Dwayne Peel and Jason White need some game time.

"We know we haven't a big squad compared to others so we need to find a good balance. And it would not be fair just to bring 15 young guys to Leicester. They need people with experience alongside them.

"Also we have tried to rest some other players because November is going to be a huge month for us.

"We have three big Guinness Premiership games coming up against Worcester, Leicester and Wasps. We will have seven or eight guys away on international duty.

"Also, the likes of Richard Wigglesworth and Luke McAlister have played a lot of games so we need to keep them fresh."

SALE SHARKS: David Doherty, Selorm Kuadey, Rudi Keil, Chris Bell, Ed Styles, Nick McLeod, Dwayne Peel, Rob O'Donnell, Marc Jones, Stuart Turner, Jason White, Dean Schofield, Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, Michael Hills, Carl Fearns

Replacements: Dan Ward, Ross Davies, James Gaskell, David Tait, Will Cliff, Mark Atkinson, Jonny Kennedy

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