Newcastle Red Bulls vs Sale Prediction: Sharks to show no mercy

The Newcastle Red Bulls play their final Gallagher Prem home game of the season on Saturday when they host Sale Sharks at Kingston Park (7:45pm BST, TNT Sports 2). The hosts are condemned to finishing last, have gained just a single win all season. Visiting Sale are seventh, with four wins from their 16 games.

Below are my Newcastle Red Bulls vs Sale predictions, as well as all the essential team news and match odds for the battle in the north east.

Rugby Union Odds

Team News

Prop Richard Palframan returns as one of six changes for the hosts. Amanaki Mafi starts at No.8 after a pair of explosive cameos from the bench, while Ollie Leatherbarrow returns from suspension alongside in the back row.

Ethan Grayson and Christian Wade came off the bench against Bath a fortnight ago and start now in the back row with Jamie Hodgson as interim head coach Stephen Jones shuffles his deck.

Sale hand first starts in the Prem this season to Reuben Logan and Seb Kelly in the back row as part of four changes made by Alex Sanderson.

Elsewhere, scrum-half Gus Warr and winger Arron Reed come into the XV in place of Raffi Quirke and Tom O'Flaherty, who take their places on a bench featuring a 5-3 split.

Skipper Ernst van Rhyn will partner Ben Bamber again in the second-row, while academy hooker Alfie Longstaff is in the front row beside Asher Opoku-Fordjour at loosehead and James Harper tighthead. George Ford at fly-half with Warr alongside.

Newcastle Red Bulls vs Sale Odds

The hosts are trading at 7/1 to sign off at Kingston Park with a victory, while Sale are as short as 1/14 for success and the draw available at 28/1.

The three-way handicap has both teams at 10/11 with Newcastle in receipt of a 16-point start, while the handicap tie trades at 18/1.

Sale Sharks -17.5 @ 1/1

It has been another miserable season for Newcastle and, for the fourth year on the trot, they will prop up the rest in the Gallagher Prem.

With two games left to play, interim head coach Stephen Jones sees his side six points shy of the total they managed last season and with one less win.

The Red Bull investment at Newcastle last summer promised much but, in reality, will take some time to deliver.

Jones is the third man in charge this season, following on from Steve Diamond and Alan Dickens.

The ex-Wales fly-half took on the reins on an interim basis and will likely be happy to hand them on to incoming coach Dan McFarland this summer.

Newcastle have lost their last four games by an aggregate score of 259-51, while their scoring averages indicate a typical loss by more than 31 points per game.

Sale have lost two on the trot since last month's 52-33 win over Harlequins, but they did at least put 33 points on Leicester Tigers in Salford last time out despite going down by 14 points.

Sale were 24-point winners last season and won the reverse game in October by a whopping 52 points.

Rugby Union betting tips with Betfred Insights.