Robinson set for centre stage
March 8, 2002

Sale are likely to be without fly-half Charlie Hodgson for the trip to second-placed Gloucester.

Hodgson has still not recovered from the ankle injury which forced him out of England reckoning in Paris last weekend.

If Hodgson's absence is confirmed, Jason Robinson is set to start in the centre. That should make for an interesting first match-up with his former Wigan RL team-mate Henry Paul, whose introduction to full England colours hardly matches that of his illustrious cross-code colleague.

Gloucester are also under new management, although new director of rugby Nigel Melville cannot officially take charge until after his new charges have taken on old-club Wasps on April 9.

That means Paul Turner remains in the hot-seat this week against his former club in a dress rehearsal for the Parker Pen Shield semi-final.

"When I was at Sale, Gloucester away was a game I always used to target," he said. "They have won on something like six of their last eight visits to Kingsholm.

"Apart from one or two sevens players from the southern hemisphere, Jason Robinson is the best attacking player in world rugby.

"We have to cut down his space, although even France, who did really well against him, couldn't manage it for a full 80 minutes.

"The problem is that if you have two or three men on Jason, it creates room for the rest of the team."

In a programme affected by the Powergen Cup semi-finals, the only other match of the weekend is on Sunday at Headingley, where Leeds hope to take another stride towards safety against inconsistent Bristol.

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