A POWER-packed Worcester Warriors side will be bidding for a hat-trick of victories at Sale Sharks’ Edgeley Park home in the Guinness Prem-iership tonight (8pm).

Last season’s Shane Drahm-inspired 22-15 upset at Sale proved the catalyst for a remarkable run of form and Warriors’ director of rugby Mike Ruddock is hoping for a similar performance in front of the Sky cameras.

The Welshman has made six changes to the side that lost to Harlequins in the EDF Energy Cup with a host of big-name players returning to the fold.

Centre Dale Rasmussen, wing Miles Benjamin and back-row Kai Horstmann all return to action after injuries, while inspirational flanker Pat San-derson is handed a first start of the league season and the captaincy after recovering from a quad muscle tear.

New Zealander Rico Gear has been dropped to the bench to be replaced by Chris Pennell, while Ryan Powell has been included to inject some pace at scrum-half.

Will Bowley has recovered from a broken thumb to offer cover for Greg Rawlinson and Craig Gillies in the second row and prop Chris Horsman is a replacement after completing his ban.

Sixways chief Ruddock said: “Against Sale last year, we played 80 minutes of great rugby, scored the try-of-the-season and it was the catalyst for us in terms of improvement and winning games.

“It gave the boys a lot of confidence and I think that is really the big difference between then and now. Hopefully we can get the win tonight to generate that confidence.

“We’ve been concentrating on refining our attacking and defensive strategies and looking at Sale in a bit more detail.

“With the injuries we’ve had of late, the break last weekend gave us the opporunity to take a few of the guys out of the firing line and freshen them up after a lot of games.

“Sale will have a couple of guys unavailable on international duty and hopefully that will work to our advantage, but when you start thinking things might be easier, that’s when your trouble starts.

“We are expecting them to be fired up because we beat them last year. They possibly underestimated us a bit and I’m sure they won’t do that this year.”

Sale, without a host of first team regulars such as Andrew Sheridan, Sebastien Chabal and Jason White due to the autumn internationals, welcome back Mathew Tait, who will start at full-back having been released by England.

Warriors: Latham; Pennell, Rasmussen, Tuitupou, Benjamin; M Jones, R Powell; Mullan, Lutui, Taumoepeau, Rawlinson, Gillies, Talei, Sanderson, Horstmann. Replacements: Fortey, Horsman, Bowley, Cox, M Powell, Crichton, Gear.

Sale: Tait; Cueto, Bell, McAlister, Doherty; Hodgson, Wigglesworth; O’Donnell, Briggs, Turner, Cockbain, Schofield, Ormsby, Abraham, Fearns. Replacements: Jones, Davies, Tait, Gaskell, Leck, Keil, Macleod.