Jenkins takes Blues armband

British and Irish Lions prop Gethin Jenkins will captain Cardiff Blues against Sale Sharks tonight when he makes first appearance of the season.

Jenkins required shoulder surgery after returning from the Lions tour of South Africa and Cardiff’s coach Dai Young labelled his return to action as a “massive boost”.

The Blues are without Xavier Rush (flu) as well as Gareth Thomas, Paul Tito and Bradley Davies, who were all casualties of last weekend’s victory over Harlequins.

“Gethin has worked his socks off to get back,” Young told Media Wales.

“Giving him the captaincy is perhaps something of a surprise but he sees that as a role he wants to take on in the future.

“When you have injuries you need someone from the front to lead and Gethin will relish the experience.”

Jenkins’ return to action is also big news for Wales coach Warren Gatland just three weeks before they tackle New Zealand at the Millennium Stadium

Cardiff face a Sale side bolstered by the return of their own Lions loose-head Andrew Sheridan plus Charlie Hodgson and Mark Cueto.

Sharks boss Kingsley Jones has made a total of nine changes after a shadow side was beaten handsomely in Toulouse last weekend.

“This is a massive game for us – not just in terms of giving ourselves a chance to advance out of the pool stages of the Heineken Cup, but we owe our supporters a big performance at home,” said Jones.

Elsewhere tonight, Munster’s conquerors Northampton are targeting a second major scalp when they tackle Top 14 champions Perpignan.

The Saints marked their return to the Heineken Cup last Saturday by producing one of the competition’s great performances against Munster to edge an epic battle 31-27 at Franklin’s Gardens.

Hartley knows that repeating that feat in France will be “a massive challenge”, possibly harder still because of Perpignan’s shock defeat at Treviso.

But the Northampton captain senses something special building at the club and he is aiming high.

“We want to win the Heineken Cup,” said Hartley, who will lead out an unchanged team at the Stade Aime Giral.

“We’re new to the competition as a squad and I believe that will help us and we will have no fear.

“Perpignan are the Top 14 champions and are set in the heartland of rugby in the south of France. I’ve never played them before – we are going into the unknown but I’m excited about the challenge.

“It’s definitely achievable for us to qualify from this pool. We have an awesome team spirit, a great squad, great strength in depth of players and a good balance of youth and experience.

“We train together, we eat together, we live together for seven days a week. I believe it’s vital you have a good team spirit. We are a team who wants to do really well and go places.”

Newport Gwent Dragons, who almost picked off Gloucester in the opening round, hand debuts to props Peter Bracken and Phil Price for the visit of Glasgow.

The Warriors are without Rob Dewey (ankle) and DTH van der Merwe (wrist), who were both injured in last week’s narrow defeat to Biarritz.

In the Amlin Challenge Cup, Connacht travel to Montpellier and Montauban host Petraca.