Premiership final: Saracens and Sale Sharks face off with Farrell vs Ford match-up

Saracens captain Owen Farrell and Sale's George Ford will be opposing fly-halves for the second Premiership final in a row

Table-toppers Saracens are targeting a sixth league title when they meet Sale Sharks in this season's Premiership final at Twickenham on Saturday.

The Sharks are in their first final in 17 years, having lifted the trophy on their only previous appearance in 2006.

Both sides have made one change from their respective semi-final XVs.

Eroni Mawi starts in place of Mako Vunipola at loose-head prop for Sarries, while Sam Dugdale comes in for injured Sale flanker Ben Curry.

The final will see Saracens captain Owen Farrell and Sale's George Ford, who have 106 and 81 England caps respectively, face off at fly-half for the second consecutive year.

Sarries lost last year's final 15-12 to Leicester Tigers, having returned to the league last season following relegation in 2019-20 for breaches of the league's salary cap, but director of rugby Mark McCall can count on plenty of experience as he looks to secure their first Premiership title since 2019.

Sharks counterpart Alex Sanderson, meanwhile, comes up against a club where he spent a year as a player and 15 more as a coach before returning north in January 2021.

Ford vs Farrell once again

The outcome of the final could also decide who starts at fly-half for England in the Rugby World Cup, with national coach Steve Borthwick no doubt keeping a keen eye on proceedings in south-west London.

Ford will become the first man to start a Premiership final at fly-half for three different clubs - first featuring for Bath in their 2015 defeat by Sarries - after returning from his Achilles injury and making his Sale debut in February.

"Since coming back into the Sale team he has been outstanding," Farrell told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"I think he is in a good place. He looks calm and in control. I would not underestimate the influence that he has had on that team behind the scenes."

However, Ford sees other match-ups around the pitch as just as important.

"Owen's a brilliant player and an integral part of their team, but it's never a one v one in rugby is it?" Ford told BBC Sport.

"There's always 15 guys on each team and there's many things that contribute to a team - being on top in the game, building enough pressure to win the game - and that'll be the same case at the weekend."

Saracens revitalised in attack

Winger Max Malins is Saracens' top try scorer in the Premiership this season, with 10 scores in 14 league outings

Saracens have licked their wounds since their last-gasp defeat inflicted by a Freddie Burns drop-goal 11 months ago, and have adapted their game to try and capitalise more on attacking opportunities.

The result has been a side which scored 83 Premiership tries this season - the second-most in the league behind Northampton.

Farrell, however, still finds the result of last season's final "frustrating".

"I don't like talking about it now because you start delving into stuff that we have worked hard at getting past - not that it is a scar that hurts or anything like that," he said.

"It took us a while to think about how to get the best out of ourselves because we didn't do that in that game. We have made some good steps towards doing that this year."

For McCall, it has been about freeing his side.

"We all felt agitated and aggravated by the manner in which we had gone down," the Irishman said.

"It was a change in mentality, rather than style, back in August. We committed to a certain way of playing.

"We have worked really hard at our game for 44 weeks and want to test it against a really top team on Saturday."

A 'Northern club with South African steel'

Sale, meanwhile, have been a team transformed under Sanderson, securing just their second top-four finish since their sole Premiership success in 2006.

"You don't just wake up on 27 May and become a champion. You have to grow into one," Sanderson told BBC Sport.

"Sometimes it takes 17 years to get there. For us I think it's been building for a couple of years.

"You have to have a strong identity and understanding of who you are as a club and what you are about. We are essentially a northern club with some South African steel mixed in there."

Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson took over the Manchester-based club in January 2021

Sanderson now looks to mastermind a way past Saracens, a club where he cut his coaching teeth.

"I couldn't be more happy that Sarries have got to the position they have given the adversity they've been through - that I was a party to as well," he said.

"The people you love you want to beat the most. I'm chuffed for them but I'd much rather beat them than anyone else."

McCall views his former forwards and defence coach as someone who is "smart about the game".

"I am not surprised that Al has done the job there that he has. He is a brilliant coach, a brilliant communicator," McCall added.

"I am delighted he has done as well as he has, but hopefully we can get one over on him."

Sale have also launched a 'Northern Rugby Matters' campaign in a bid to boost the sport's profile in the region and attract new fans.

Local players Raffi Quirke and Sam James, who will both be on the bench at Twickenham, have spoken about fighting for limelight in Manchester and victory would surely see interest in the Sharks surge.

"We want to make people up here proud of this rugby team - make them want to come watch not just a winning team but an entertaining team," Ford said.

The Premiership itself has endured a difficult season, with Wasps and Worcester Warriors both forced out of the top flight after going into administration while London Irish are now facing an uncertain financial future.

For McCall, those issues "loom large in any conversation" about this campaign,

"It's really unfortunate and sad what's happened to the other two clubs," Ford added.

"You never want that to happen to our game but there's some positive stuff. The rugby played this year by most teams has been a brilliant spectacle with really competitive games.

"Hopefully the final will be the same."

Saracens: Goode; Malins, Lozowski, Tompkins, Maitland; Farrell (capt), Van Zyl; Mawi, George, Riccioni, Itoje, Tizard, Isiekwe, Earl, Wray.

Replacements: Dan, M Vunipola, Judge, Hunter-Hill, Knight, Davies, Taylor, Daly.

Sale Sharks: Carpenter; Roebuck, R Du Preez, Tuilagi, Reed; Ford, Warr; McIntyre, Van der Merwe, Schonert, J-L Du Preez, Hill, T Curry, Dugdale, Ross (capt).

Replacements: Ashman, Rodd, Oosthuizen, Beaumont, Ellis, Quirke, James, O'Flaherty.

Referee: Luke Pearce.