Sale Sharks v Northampton Saints | Matchday Programme

SALE SHARK S V NORTHAMP TON SAINTS Sunday 15th Oc tober, KO: 13:30

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A WORD FROM THE A XE H E R E W E G O A G A I N ! W E L C O M E B A C K T O T H E S A L F O R D S TA D I U M F O R T H E S TA R T O F W H AT W E H O P E W I L L B E A N O T H E R F A N TA S T I C GALL AGHER PREMIERSHIP SEASON. WE’ VE HAD A BRILLIANT P R E - S E A S O N A N D T H E B O Y S H AV E W O R K E D I N C R E D I B LY H A R D .

We know it’s so important to hit the ground running but we start with a big challenge against a really good Northampton Saints team led by Phil Dowson. Northampton are a team that can throw lightning bolts and attack unbelievably well from anywhere, so we are going to have to be on our mettle defensively. We are expecting it to be levels up from the Premiership Cup in terms of intensity but like I say, the lads are ready.

The focus of pre-season, as it is with every pre-season, is to be bigger, fitter, faster, stronger. We looked at some global stats and compared some of our metrics to the likes of Toulouse, La Rochelle, Leinster and Saracens. We looked at where they were better than us and also which areas we were dominant in ourselves. We were pretty happy with a lot of the elements that we lean into, the parts of the game that excite us around physicality, and set-piece. But we were definitely lacking in some of the areas which

THE FOCUS OF PRE-SEASON, AS IT IS WITH EVERY PRESEASON, IS TO BE BIGGER, FITTER, FASTER, STRONGER. would allow us to be more effective in terms of scoring tries. We started to see us open up our game a bit at the backend of last year but we know we need to be better.

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We want to back ourselves and not miss opportunities when they present themselves wherever they are on the field. That was always our philosophy; if it’s on it’s on. They are the opportunities you have to take against the very best teams like Saracens. In the final last season, Saracens hit us with some lightning bolt moments. You have got to be sharp and consistent for 80 minutes and that’s what we’ve been working towards.

We welcome back Cobus Wiese today after a really long lay-off. He got a few mins last week against Ampthill but this will be another level. He’s a brilliant personality to have around the place let alone a brilliant player on the field. He’d boost any squad in the league and we’re buzzing to have him back.

He’s come back about 6kg heavier.

He’s a bit like the Curry boys in that repsect – when he gets injured he comes back fitter and stronger, and more focused in terms of what he wants out of his game. He’s not the only big South African involved today though! Ernst van Rhyn makes his league debut and I know you’re going to love him. He’s the nicest man in the world off the pitch but on it is a different matter. He has been ripping it up for the last four weeks and I can’t wait to see him go.

up. That said, a good start isn’t all about winning. It helps, but we want to start fast by our standards and our own performance.

Last season was, and the memories will live with us for a long time.

But ultimately we fell short. It still wasn’t good enough. We know that if we want to just stay where we are, we need to improve by ten per cent. But we know that’s not good enough because we’ll just fall short again. We want to be, say, 15 per cent better and so the lads have been looking for ways of making small gains. Can they drink water before bed or maybe record Love Island so they get to bed earlier.

They’ve worked so hard and they’re ready to go. I can’t wait to watch them!

Enjoy the game, Al

As I said, the start is so important.

We’ve seen that in the last two seasons. Last year we started really well and it set us up nicely for the second part of the season. The season before last was the opposite.

We lost a few games and gave ourselves too much ground to catch 7

COWAN-DICKIE

CLOSE TO RETURN ONE OF THE HE ADLINE ARRIVALS AT C ARRINGTON IN THE OFF-SE A SON WA S ENGL AND HOOK ER LUK E COWAN-DICK IE . THE 30 -YE AR- OLD, WHO SPENT 13 YE ARS AT E X ETER CHIEFS , SIGNED AN INITIAL ONE-YE AR DE AL BUT HIS DEBUT HA S BENE DEL AYED BY THE INJURY THAT FORCED HIM TO MISS THE WORLD CUP IN FR ANCE .

THE INJURY IS COMING ALONG WELL. I’M ‘“Pre-season has been great,” he said. “I’ve been working with the DOING A LOT club’s medical team to help me back into full training which has been OF STRENGTH tough because I haven’t trained in a while. I haven’t actually done many pre-seasons because I’ve either TESTING AND been in England camps or I’ve been injured. So this one has been tough HOPEFULLY IT’S – lots of running and fitness work.

But I’ve loved it.

NOT TOO FAR “We’ve been off site a fair few OFF. I CAN’T times and that’s been great. I love a drink and hard graft and we’ve had WAIT TO START plenty of both.

PLAYING. “The injury is coming along well. I’m Now, after a tough pre-season, Luke is close to full fitness and chomping at the bit to run out in a navy blue shirt.

doing a lot of strength testing and it’s really improving. Hopefully it’s not too far off now – I genuinely love coming into work every day and I can’t wait to start playing.

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“It was a big move to leave Exeter after so long there. I’d grown up at the club but I knew it was time for a change.

“I spoke to Jonny (Hill) and Flats (Tom O’Flaherty) and they told me about the culture and the rugby up here and I got really excited about the opportunity to come and develop my game under new coaches. I found out within a couple of days that the lads were legends because they welcomed me straight away.

“It took me a little while to find somewhere to live but I’ve been in a place in Altrincham for a couple of weeks now and I’m loving it. I’ve got plenty of time for gaming!

“There are positives everywhere here. Having a new coaching team and some new sets of eyes on me is great because I want to learn and keep developing. We’ve got world class players here so the chance to watch them train and work with them to see how they operate has been brilliant for me.

“The way the club has progressed over the last few years has been really impressive and I feel like this year we can definitely go one better. Finals are one-off games and I really believe that if we replayed last year’s final ten more times we’d win five and they’d win five. It’s that close.

“There were some young lads who hadn’t played at Twickenham before and that experience will be brilliant for their development because it is a big occasion. I think

they handled it really well but they’ll be even better equipped next time that opportunity comes.

“For me I always look at the future. I don’t try and dwell on games I’ve lost but we’re all different. Some of the lads might look back on that final and use it as motivation to go one better this year.”

Luke was part of England’s preWorld Cup training camp but missed out on the final selection due to his injury. But having worked and played with his country’s biggest names, he’s confident Steve Borthwick’s men can put in a big performance against Fiki this weekend.

“It’s gutting not to be involved in the World Cup and I’m desperate to be back involved with England,” he added. “But my focus is all on getting back fit, training hard and then playing games for Sale. If I perform well then England will follow.

THIS ENGLAND “I was in camp before the World Cup and it was tough.

TEAM HAVE A Performances in the warm-up games weren’t great but this PERFORMANCE group has an ability to pull out a performance when it matters.

IN THEM. I thought Argentina would be tough, but the lads did so well to THEY’VE HAD perform like that with 14 men.

THE TIME “Now the form goes out of the window a little bit and this England TOGETHER AND team have a performance in them.

They’ve had the time together and I’M CONFIDENT I’m confident it’s going to click for them.

IT’S GOING “As a player they won’t be thinking TO CLICK FOR that a semi-final is job done. I’m pretty sure they’ll be focusing on THEM. the next game but they’ll want to win the whole thing. I see no reason why they can’t.”

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CAPTAIN (C)URRY WELCOME BACK TO THE SALFORD STADIUM FOR OUR FIRST

G ALL AGHER PREMIERSHIP G AME OF A NE W SE A SON . ALL THE L ADS ARE E X TREMELY E XCITED ABOUT STARTING THE SE A SON IN FRONT OF A HOME CROWD AG AINST A QUALIT Y NORTHAMP TON SAINTS SIDE AND HOPEFULLY, GET TING OFF TO A WINNING START

We finished last season with mixed emotions. Obviously it was an achievement in itself getting to the final, but it still deeply hurts falling short at the final hurdle. However, with all professional sport, there’s always another season. It sounds obvious, but the focus in the off season has been about getting better in every department.

EVERY SESSION WE WANT TO ATTACK IT WITH INTENT. WHETHER IT’S SKILLS, OR The coaches have been very thorough and clear about how we are going A GYM SESSION to do this and the players that have come in have adapted quickly. Even WE WANT TO in defence, where we topped most metrics, the aim is to be even better than last year. Every session we want IMPROVE AND IF to attack it with intent.

WE DO THAT, WE Whether it’s skills, or a gym session we want to improve and if we do that, KNOW WE ARE we know we are best placed to get the outcome we all want. Of course, what BEST PLACED TO happened last season is a motivator for us, but that was an outcome of GET THE OUTCOME the way we worked last season and the way we focused on continuous WE ALL WANT. 13

improvement. The process is key!

For me personally, it was frustrating to miss the final (and the trip to Marbella!) after getting injured in the semi-final against Leicester, but my these things give you a chance to come back even better so I’m ready to hit the ground running in a few weeks.

I’m hopefully not too far off fitness but it was a pretty complicated hamstring injury. Originally, I was told between four and six months and it’s likely to be the sixth month before I’m back. I’m not going to lie, it has been frustrating because the start of the season is such an exciting time for everyone.

There’s a real buzz around the club and, especially since I’m now officially the captain, I’ve found it hard not to be in the middle of the action, helping the lads prepare. However, there’s so many good leaders in this team that have stepped up and added so we are in a very good place.

Jonny Hill jokes that I’m a walking food bill at the moment and there’s been a fair bit of guilt because Alex has backed me and trusted me with a responsibility and I’m not able to fulfil that role. I’m not playing against Saints so I can’t lead in the way I would like – from the front, from the middle of the action.

There’s a balance when you’re not playing because it’s hard to lead and tell other people what to do when I’m not doing it myself. I have tried to contribute though, and help get the lads ready for what is going to be a really tough game. They’re ready and we feel like we have a squad that can

beat any team in the league. We’ve recruited really in the summer and all the new lads have really added to the squad on and off the field.

When we’re finished on Sunday, all the attention will turn to England’s quarter final against Fiji in the World Cup. We’ve got four lads hoping to be involved and all of us, and I’m sure all of you too, will be right behind them. England have not been perfect but they’re in a quarter final and this team has an ability to pull out a performance and beat anyone on any given day.

It’s going to be a brilliant day of rugby and I can’t wait.

Ben

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FROM THE SHARK TANK O U R W E E K LY G U E S T S P O T F R O M T H E P O D C A S T I N G S U P E R FA N S OV E R AT T H E S H A R K TA N K , T H E N O R T H E R N P OW E R H O U S E O F R U G BY P O D C A S T I N G , W I T H A D E TA I L E D, I R R E V E R E N T A N D O C C A S S I O N A L LY C Y N I C A L L O O K AT A L L T H I N G S S A L E S H A R K S .

FOUR months, two weeks and four An away trip to Caldy was never days since the final whistle blew at going to be easy to follow that, and Twickenham and an outstanding it was made all the more difficult by Sale Sharks Premiership season what has been described in some came to a close. Close it was, but circles as “biblical flood” levels of no cigar, and all that time later weather, so to come away with a win Premiership Rugby is finally back! and a try bonus point is probably September was dominated by the as much as we could ask for (other Rugby World Cup, where some than a refund for those of us who Sharks made headlines for both bought waterproof jackets from good and bad reasons from the Cheshire Oaks on the way opening weekend, but quietly in up). the background this Sale team have been building up in the Prem Rugby Cup too. After a comfortable start at home against Bedford, which we’ll all probably never forget thanks to Nye Thomas’s dancefloor moves, there followed two trickier games against Premiership sides.

The home game to Leicester showed a lot of promise given the experience in the squad Tigers put out, and there was no shame in a narrow defeat. After that, the less said about the Friday night in Newcastle the better (a phrase no doubt a lot of us have said before) – all credit to our fans who made that long trip!

Finally then with a strong team, decent weather and a home crowd, we seemed to click into life at home against Ampthill to put them to the sword. It’s always difficult to glean too much from these games, so all you can really ask for is some exposure for the younger members of the squad and a few wins to boot, and that’s what we’ve delivered.

We come into this game then with optimism for the season, with the chance to go one better than last season and bring back that Premiership Trophy to the North. But it’s a long season ahead and starting with Northampton today it’s a league of high quality teams. The difficulties we’ve seen in professional rugby in England recently are no secret, so we’re fortunate to have our Sharks in the North West, but one side-effect of this is that with fewer teams, every game will be even more intense and competitive. That means that home fixtures, and home fans, are more important than ever. We showed the rugby world just how passionate, loud and supportive we are at Twickenham last May, so it’s now time to do that again and start the season with a bang.

Finally this week for those of you who haven’t joined our Fantasy Premiership Rugby league this season, please make sure you do – you can find the details on our

twitter feed, or just search for our pool in the SuperBru app or website using the pool code ‘VERYADIT’. It should add a level of intrigue and importance to every week once you’re desperately relying on Tom Roebuck to get his 3rd try to get to the top of the league.

Once you’ve done that, sit back or stand up, enjoy the game, and welcome back to Premiership Rugby!

Alex, James and Lewis

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