SEA LIFE Manchester is delighted to announce the renaming of its sharks to honour England’s rugby union players from local Premiership side, Sale Sharks.

England kicked off their Six Nations campaign in disappointing fashion with a defeat to old foes Scotland in their opening game. However, things improved in the nation’s second outing as England picked up a victory against Italy, winning 31-14.

Ahead of the England side’s third clash of the tournament, which takes place on February 25th against neighbours Wales, SEA LIFE Manchester is looking to give the national team an extra boost – by naming their much-loved sharks after England representatives from the local rugby union side, Sale Sharks.

The site has renamed seven of its sharks at the aquarium in honour of the England stars – with the sharks named after each Sale players surname, apart from brothers Tom Curry and Ben Curry, for obvious reasons!

As such, guests at SEA LIFE will now be able to visit Tom, Ben, Hill (Jonny), Ford (George), Rodd (Bevan) Tuilagi (Manu) and Quirke (Raffi) at the attraction.

To celebrate their naming ceremony and for added enrichment, SEA LIFE has put the sea creatures’ namesakes to the test and added a Sale Sharks rugby ball into the habitat, so the sharks could practice their rugby skills and enhance their mental development too. Sharks are known for being fast, strong and brave, so the marine creatures would make excellent signings for Sale if they keep up their training!

Jenn McDonough, General Manager at SEA LIFE Manchester, said: “Here at SEA LIFE, we are immensely proud to support our local sports stars as they represent our country on the national stage.

“We are delighted to be renaming our sharks in honour of England’s Sale Sharks players and we’re thrilled the team at Sale Sharks were more than happy to get involved – hopefully we’ll be able to invite some of the players down to meet their underwater selves soon!

“Our sea creatures regularly take part in enrichment activities, such as ball play, so it’s been great to see our own SEA LIFE Sale Sharks have a kick (fin) about with the rugby ball.”

Claire Butters, Sales & Marketing Director for Sale Sharks said, “We were really excited to hear SEA LIFE Manchester were looking to name some of their creatures after our players. Everyone in the squad works hard every day and we’re extremely proud to have a number of internationals within the team.

“Currently, we’re enjoying cheering the lads on during the Six Nations while preparing for arguably our biggest game of the season against Saracens next weekend, however, once the dust has settled on this year’s competition – we’ll definitely organise a time for the players to visit their marine counterparts, who knows, maybe one will be brave enough to join them in the water!”

For further information or to book your tickets to SEA LIFE Manchester to see the SEA LIFE Sale Sharks in action, please visit the website here: https://www.visitsealife.com/manchester/