"We lost more players to injury last week and we are taking every available, fit player with us," lamented Jones.

"It won't be easy at Kingsholm, it never is. Gloucester will be smarting after losing at Edgeley Park three weeks ago and will be looking to put the record straight.

"We need to be focussed and ready from the first whistle as we have started slowly in the last few games and made it difficult for ourselves."

Gloucester are boosted by the return of James Simpson-Daniel to their side. The England winger has recovered from a rib injury picked up during Gloucester 's 26-18 Heineken Cup defeat against Agen a fortnight ago and replaces Mark Foster.

Head coach Dean Ryan is also without stand-off Willie Walker, who damaged a shoulder against Leinster last Friday, which means Ryan Lamb starts in the number 10 shirt.

There is a double change at half-back where Rory Lawson returns at scrum-half for Peter Richards, who moves to the bench.

There is still no place for centre Anthony Allen, which means Mike Tindall and Jack Adams retain their midfield combination and Iain Balshaw keeps the number 15 jersey - although Olly Morgan returns to the match-day 22 after taking a bang against Agen.

In the forwards, Christian Califano returns at loose-head prop in place of Nick Wood and Olivier Azam starts at hooker in place of Mefin Davies.

The rest of the forward pack remains unchanged, which means Marco Bortolami and Alex Brown will pair up for the eighth match running at lock, Peter Buxton will make his 18th appearance of the season in all competitions at number six, Andy Hazell wears the seven shirt and Adam Balding continues at number eight.

On the bench, Ludovic Mercier returns for the first time since October following a disc problem in his neck.

Gloucester:15 Iain Balshaw, 14 James Bailey, 13 Jack Adams, 12 Mike Tindall, 11 James Simpson-Daniel, 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Rory Lawson, 8 Adam Balding, 7 Andy Hazell, 6 Peter Buxton, 5 Alex Brown, 4 Marco Bortolami (c), 3 Carlos Nieto, 2 Olivier Azam, 1 Christian Califano.
Replacements: 16 Mefin Davies, 17 Nick Wood, 18 Will James, 19 Jake Boer, 20 Peter Richards, 21 Ludovic Mercier, 22 Olly Morgan.

Sale Sharks:15 Rhys Jones, 14 Chris Bell, 13 Chris Mayor, 12 Mark Taylor, 11 Oriol Ripol, 10 Richard Wigglesworth, 9 Ben Foden, 8 Sebastian Chabal, 7 Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, 6 Chris Jones, 5 Chris Day, 4 Dean Schofield, 3 Barry Stewart, 2 Andy Titterrell, 1 Eifion Roberts,
Replacements:16 Sebastien Bruno, 17 Stuart Turner, 18 Ben Evans, 19 David Tait, 20 Andrew Vilk, 21 Matt Riley, 22 Jon Bryant/Selorm Kuadey.

Date: Saturday, January 27
Kick-off:15:00 GMT
Venue: Kingsholm
Referee: Tony Spreadbury
Touch judges: Andrew Pearce, Steve Terheege
Television match official: Andy Turner