"They've got their bite back, it's on us to get ours"- Alex Sanderson: Sale boss previews clash with Leicester Tigers
Today at 07:35 AM
Premiership high-flyers Leicester Tigers, who sit in second place, head North-West to face an out of sorts Sale Sharks side looking to regain form after the international break. Looking ahead to his opponents, Sale’s Director of Rugby Alex Sanderson acknowledged that they have some very good attributes, and are a changed team under new Head Coach Michael Cheika.
"They’ve got pretty much the best set piece – most penalties from scrums, most tries from mauls. We’ve got more maul metres but there’s a challenge there. They’ve got the most balls back in the air to contest.
"More importantly than all those things, they’ve got their bite back.
"Cheek’s (Michael Cheika) given them some intent, which I’m happy for actually. You don’t want a team to be floundering. I’ve got mates who play for them, work for their organisation.
"We looked at them today, spoke about them getting their bite back, and I spoke about us being a bit toothless against Bath so fair game to them.
"They’ve started well, they’ve got their bite back, it’s on us to get ours. That’s how we’re gonna frame it this week."
He listed Ben Curry and a few other players as having not got fair gametime over the international campaign, but Sanderson thinks that this will motivate them in their return to Premiership rugby. Talking about this, Sanderson said:
"They’ve all come back in great form, that’s my biggest worry, my biggest concern, that they take too long to teeth back in from one system to another and they’ve come back in and like I say, some of them are striving to be starting in the Six Nations, not just coming in at the back end of a campaign.
"The Roebuck’s, the Asher’s (Opoku-Fordjour) and the Carp’s (Joe Capenter) who actually want to break through into that squad. And others are frustrated in that squad either through selection, injury or performance and they really want to get their teeth stuck in the Prem.
"So for one reason or another it’s worked out for us motivationally.
"First thing I said to them was how proud I am, we are, of their efforts. their efforts, their caps have probably been tainted by non-selection throughout the campaign.
"I don’t understand the reasons for them, I don’t really have to, but I can empathise with the players.
"They can prove our point, some of those lads really want to show they’re worthy of more, and they can do more, that’s a conversation we’ve had.
"I thought Ben Curry was excellent when he came on against New Zealand. Tom Roebuck showed what he can do.
"Arron Reed’s unfortunately behind two great wingers isn’t he at Scotland so he’s not getting a look in as they want a fullback cover.
"He gets it, but he’s not happy with it, but that’s good, he wants more."
A player who had a more positive Autumn was young prop Asher Opoku-Fourdjour, who made his first England start in the win over Japan, speaking about his potential the Sale Sharks DoR said:
"I didn’t expect him to get to that level at this point, he definitely has the potential. He went down as a loosehead in training camp a few weeks ago, then impressed and went to tighthead.
"It was the first time they ever considered him a tighthead in terms of that communication and they’ve kept him. I’m really happy that they’re looking in that position because it suits us."
There is also the emotional impact that making a milestone appearance has in the aftermath, and Sanderson spoke about this with regards to Asher:
"The emotional low from what is just experience and getting his first cap. That’s inevitable. It’s determining when and being in control of that crash.
"So we are understanding when he gets time off, because he is due some, how long he can maintain his motivation and intensity."
Following Byron McGuigan's recent promotion to defence coach for the Sharks, Alex spoke about how his team came to the decision to make a change:
"What’s the cruel truth about professional sport is that you are being judged every week, every season.
"We have to be providing performances and outcomes that are progressively improving.
"So when we had this mini break, after the Bath game we said we have to fix this defence, subjectively, objectively it was a mutual decision but it was the best thing for the club to find a solution by changing personnel.
"So it was a mutual decision at the time because of the appraisals and the results.
"He’s (Byron) been in the wings for years, but we were really fortunate to have a defence coach of his quality announced."
Sanderson kept his cards close to his chest but revealed a bit about their upcoming transfer policy, following recent rumours of incomings and outgoings to players such as Luke Cowan-Dickie.
"Most of our policy is around retention not recruitment. We’ve got a team that in time can mature into a really really good championship winning team, if not this year.
"So look among the ranks, and have a look at all those people who you would keep on in the future, and it’s safe to assume that we’ve done a lot of work there."
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