By Duncan Wood
December 27 2002

Peter Thorburn makes multiple changes after the cup exit at the hands of Rotherham last weekend. The lineup has a more familiar look to it and the absentees will have benefitted from the week off.

Sharks vs Bristol Shoguns
Fri 01 Nov at Heywood Road - KO 19:45

Summary of meetings between the teams in the Premiership
Played 16
Sharks Won 8 - 50%
Bristol Shoguns Won 8 - 50%

Biggest Win for Sharks, 76 - 0, 09 Nov 1997
Biggest Win for Bristol Shoguns, 37 - 3, 24 Oct 1987

Sharks top try scorer vs Bristol Shoguns, Jim Mallinder, 5 tries
Sharks top points scorer vs Bristol Shoguns, Charlie Hodgson, 52 points

Bristol Shoguns top try scorer vs Sharks, David Tiueti, 5 tries
Bristol Shoguns top points scorer vs Sharks, Mark Tainton, 51 points

Date	Result	Result	Venue
01 Nov 2002	Sharks vs Bristol Shoguns	28 - 14	Heywood Road
13 Apr 2002	Sharks vs Bristol Shoguns	53 - 47	Heywood Road
02 Sep 2001	Sharks vs Bristol Shoguns	35 - 25	Memorial Stadium
23 Dec 2000	Sharks vs Bristol Shoguns	25 - 26	Heywood Road
06 Sep 2000	Sharks vs Bristol Shoguns	36 - 13	Memorial Stadium
08 Mar 2000	Sharks vs Bristol Shoguns	16 - 35	Memorial Stadium
13 Nov 1999	Sharks vs Bristol Shoguns	15 - 40	Heywood Road
15 Apr 1998	Sharks vs Bristol Shoguns	25 - 15	Memorial Stadium
09 Nov 1997	Sharks vs Bristol Shoguns	76 - 0	Heywood Road
22 Mar 1997	Sharks vs Bristol Shoguns	24 - 34	Memorial Stadium
28 Sep 1996	Sharks vs Bristol Shoguns	31 - 33	Heywood Road

Bristol Shoguns v Sharks

· Bristol are unbeaten in their last four games and have not had a longer unbeaten run in the top flight since 1996.

· Sharks have had three successive Premiership wins - all with maximum points.

·Sale have won their last three Premiership clashes with Bristol, including a 28-14 win at Heywood Road on Friday 1 November.

· Garath Archer has played in 99 Premiership matches for Newcastle and Bristol combined, whilst Felipe Contepomi has accumulated 499 Premiership points (including 99 penalty goals) for Bristol in just 35 appearances.

Team news

Bristol head coach, Peter Thorburn, attracted much criticism last weekend for his team selection against Rotherham. He has responded in the press by explaining the injury situation that forced his hand but is able to bring bck his big guns this weekend.

In the pack, only Sheridan, White, Oakley and Beattie retain their places. In the backs, only Brendon Daniel and Lee Best retain theirs.

It's a lineup that Thorburn hopes will be able to handle an impressive Sharks lineup. The Sharks keep an unchanged sqaud from last weekend and Bristol supporters will be hoping that the weekend off for most of their players will make a difference.

Bristol team:

Andrew Sheridan, Paul Johnstone, Julian White, Garath Archer (c), Alex Brown, Matt Salter, Rhys Oakley, Ross Beattie, Agustin Pichot, Felipe Contepomi, Phil Christophers, Daryl Gibson, Andrew Higgins, Brendon Daniel, Lee Best

Replacements bench to be confirmed.

Sharks squad:

Jason Robinson, Vaughan Going, Mark Cueto, Steve Hanley, Dan Harris, Graeme Bond, Nick Walshe, Charlie Hodgson, Bryan Redpath, Kevin Yates, Jim Thorp, Barry Stewart, Stuart Turner, Charl Marais, Johnny Roddam, Iain Fullarton, Chris Jones, Alex Sanderson, Phil Davies, Pete Anglesea, Stuart Pinkerton, Richard Wilks.

Bristol will have to work hard to stop the dangerous Sharks backs getting space out wide and they'll have to do so legally as Charlie Hodgson is now back at outside half and will kick most chances.

The pundits reckon a Sharks win is in the offing.

Let's hope that a big Brisotl crowd can roar their team onto victory.