Croft made his first club appearance since October with a run-out from the replacements bench in the win over London Wasps last Saturday, while tighthead prop White makes his first start since November.
Director of rugby Richard Cockerill names an unchanged backline, and brings back Marcos Ayerza to join White in the front row.
“We’ve been going well and, although some of the teams around us have games in hand, we’re just focusing on what we are doing,” Cockerill said.
“There are seven games to go and we’re just trying to get as many points as we can. Sale is always a tough place to go but we’ve won our last three away games and we should go with some confidence.
“It’s all about getting results at this stage of the season. We’re in a good place at the moment but that can change very quickly.”
Jordan Crane (knee), Ed Slater (foot) and Matt Smith (hamstring) are ruled out by injury. Geordan Murphy, Ben Pienaar and Geoff Parling are also sidelined. Dan Cole, Louis Deacon, Toby Flood and Ben Youngs are on international duty with England, and Martin Castrogiovanni is with the Italy squad.
Tigers return to home soil for a Round 17 fixture against Saracens on Saturday, March 5 (3.15pm). Tickets are available now. Call the Tigers ticket hotline on 0844 856 1880 or call in at Welford Road. Or book online.
Leicester Tigers (vs Sale Sharks, Edgeley Park, Friday, 7.45pm)
15 Scott Hamilton
14 Horacio Agulla
13 Manu Tuilagi
12 Anthony Allen
11 Alesana Tuilagi
10 Jeremy Staunton
9 James Grindal
1 Marcos Ayerza
2 George Chuter
3 Julian White
4 Steve Mafi
5 George Skivington
6 Craig Newby (c)
7 Tom Croft
8 Thomas Waldrom
Replacements
16 Rob Hawkins
17 Boris Stankovich
18 Peter Bucknall
19 Calum Green
20 Ben Woods
21 Sam Harrison
22 Dan Hipkiss
23 Billy Twelvetrees
Sale Sharks start Dwayne Peel at scrum-half, but hooker Marc Jones (neck) misses the game through injury.
Sharks: 15 Rob Miller, 14 Tom Brady, 13 Chris Bell, 12 Kyle Tonetti, 11 Ben Cohen, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Dwayne Peel, 1 Lee Imiolek, 2 Ben Roberts, 3 Henry Thomas, 4 Chris Jones, 5 Wame Lewaravu, 6 James Gaskell (capt.), 7 Carl Fearns, 8 Sisa Koyamaibole
Replacements 16 Aston Croall, 17 Simon McIntyre, 18 Jack Forster, 19 Sean Cox, 20 Neil McMillan, 21 Will Cliff, 22 Andy Tuilagi, 23 Fergus Mulchrone
