And now for something completely different for Sale fans after three testing weeks - some good news. Academy graduate, former England Saxon and incumbent Sale Sharks fullback Mike Haley has been selected as part of Eddie Jones' 33-man England squad for the Autumn International series. Haley, 22, is the only Sharks player picked to represent any of the Home Nations in the end-of-year-tests, with Josh Beaumont a surprise exclusion from the England EPS selection. Haley is included in the squad alongside both Mike Brown and Alex Goode, the two players who have held a duopoly on the no.15 shirt for the past half-decade. However after a sterling England debut on the Saxons tour to South Africa (despite suffering a broken shoulder in the second game), Haley appears to have forced Jones' hand into picking the Lancastrian in the Elite Player Squad for the first time. Whether Haley will be afforded the opportunity to make his full international debut during either one of the tests against South Africa, Fiji, Argentina, or Australia is uncertain although the lengthy nature of a four-test series, alongside the inclusion of only three distinguished wingers in the 33-man squad (with the implication that Alex Goode could cover either wing) suggests Haley should become the first Sale player to represent England in a full test capacity since Danny Cipriani in the 2015 Six Nations (and only second since Mark Cueto and Andrew Sheridan in the 2011 Six Nations). Haley's gain - and after two meritorious seasons at the Premiership level with Sale it is a well-deserved accolade - is Josh Beaumont's loss. Beaumont was included in Eddie Jones' inaugural EPS selection for the 2016 Six Nations although the Sharks captain failed to feature, and despite being tipped to be included again in the EPS as a lock-cum-number-eight option, Beaumont finds himself on the outside looking-in. Whilst it is fair to say Beaumont has not started the 2016-17 season in the same barnstorming form that brought him to prominence over the previous 18 months, to be omitted entirely is quite a surprise considering the current dearth of back-five options Jones and England have at their disposal (Jack Clifford, Maro Itoje, George Kruis, Sam Jones, Mike Williams). Beaumont's inclusion in the pre-season 45-man wider training squad does suggest however that he remains in Jones' plans and that a full international cap is inevitable, especially should his performances return to their bullish, 2015 best. Follow The Shark Tank on Twitter for more news, analysis and opinions on all things Sale Sharks.
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Another week, another performance devoid of any attacking structure. Sale's European Champions Cup got off to a miserable start at the Parc y Scarlets on Saturday night as the Sharks fell 28-11 to Pro 12 side Scarlets. A DTH van der Merwe brace alongside a Gareth Davies charge-down effort was enough to sink the away side whose only response came in the form of a well-taken Neil Briggs try rolling off the back of a driving maul. Despite an ambitious starting lineup that suggested Steve Diamond, unlike in past seasons, intended to take the competition seriously, Scarlets made worryingly short work of Sale's strongest available side in a humbling performance that once again illuminated the structural problems the 2016-17 iteration of Sale Sharks have. The pack, improved in contrast to recent performances, were still a ways away from the dominant unit promised in pre-season, whilst the backline, with Dan Mugford back in the number 10 role pulling the strings, was completely suffocated by Scarlets' aggressive line defence. Some bizarre one-sided refereeing from Romain Poite which saw the Frenchmen extremely quick to yellow-card both Ross Harrison and Andrei Ostrikov but promote clemency with Scarlets' infringements in their own 22 didn't help matters either. All in all it was a discouraging night in South Wales for Sale and as alluded to by my succinct synopsis of the game - the less said about it the better. But now the question on everyone's mind - where do Sale go from here in regards to Europe? Whether the main culprit is attributed to injuries or the high player turnover over the summer, Sale's start to the 2016-17 season has been mixed to say the least. In the Premiership Sale sit 7th on 13 points with two wins, a draw and a loss to their name - albeit only four points ahead of 11th placed Worcester. The Premiership as always will be Sale's primary focus - sneaking into the top-four play-offs is a far more attainable goal than an unprecedented run to European glory after all. But with Sale's small pool of first-team players already stretched by early-season injuries to AJ MacGinty, Rob Webber, Mike Haley, Tom Arscott and others (with Brian Mujati and Cameron Neild the latest casualties from Saturday night) just how much effort can Sale afford to expand in the Champions Cup? The crux is of course the pseudo-insurmountable nature of the pool Sale find themselves in (which the loss to Scarlets has further compounded). Alongside Scarlets, Sale are included with Toulon (the Galácticos of modern rugby) and Saracens (the reigning European and Premiership champions). Progression out of Pool 3 was always going to be nigh-on impossible when paired with arguably the two best teams in European rugby, but now, with the Scarlets loss and the enduring mini-injury crisis is it already time for Sale to throw in the towel and give Tom and Ben Curry, George Nott, James Mitchell, Sam Bedlow and the plethora of other talented youngsters coming through the ranks invaluable first-team experience (whilst acknowledging this will likely come off the back of heavy losses both home and away)? There is no right answer. Whilst the pragmatic decision would be to recognise the futility of attempting to compete in Europe (at least until significant further investment is made into the squad) especially if a full-strength Sale side suffer a loss to Toulon at home on Friday night, this would have drastic implications for Sale's reputation (and would undermine the efforts the team expanded at the end of last season to finish in the top-six). The one certainty is that Saturday's loss - and indeed the nature of it - has only made Sale's approach to their remaining European fixtures a lot more ambiguous. Follow The Shark Tank on Twitter for more news, analysis and opinions on all things Sale Sharks. 'Torpid' is steadily becoming my favourite word. Even the long-awaited news that stalwart winger and goalkicker extraordinaire Will Addison had signed a new three-year-deal with the club was scant consolation on a miserable Friday evening for Sale Sharks who were downed 30-3 to an impressive Bath side. Despite a fantastic result the week prior against Leicester Tigers which finally saw the Sale backline come alight to the tune of four tries and 34 points, Paul Deacon's charges could muster nothing against a stoic and for the most part impenetrable Bath defence aside from an early Will Addison penalty. It would be easy, in the all too familiar gloom of away-game pessimism, to disregard the performance of the opposition and focus solely on Sale's drastic underperformance on Friday. And whilst there is no doubting Sale definitely underperformed in front of the bright lights of the BT Sport cameras (and Eddie Jones' watchful gaze), we must pay credence to a wonderfully opportunistic and aggressive Bath performance who were deserved winners on the night. 30-3 is ultimately not a fair reflection of the game; Sale controlled possession and even territory for the majority of the game, and the latter two of Bath's three tries - touched down by Kahn Fotuali'i and Kane Palma-Newport - were extremely fortuitous occurrences that occurred due to handling mistakes that are usually not punished so drastically (in this case a misplaced James Mitchell pass and a spilt lineout). But whereas Bath could consider themselves lucky to have been gifted two tries, there was nothing providential about the rest of their performance; George Ford kicked a perfect six-for-six from the tee, midfield duo Matt Banahan and Jonathan Joseph cut Sale to ribbons with ease and most importantly, the Bath line defence definitively smothered what little momentum the Sale ball-handlers could muster. Bath are back to their best, Sale are back to doing what they do best - playing well at the AJ Bell stadium and capitulating worryingly away from it. In a week when backs coach Paul Deacon (along with defence coach Mike Forshaw) penned a new four-year-deal with the club, Sale's biggest concern coming away from Friday night will once again be an attack (or lack thereof) which can once again be described as that word - torpid. Despite making nearly double the amount of carries (71-38) and owning 65% of the possession Sale created absolute nothing in the way of incisive attacking play. Tellingly, despite the lopsided figures noted above Bath made 492 metres to the Sharks' 350. Sale showed the ability to retain the ball effectively by racking up a multitude of 15+ phases of play but produced nothing from it. No line breaks, certainly no clean breaks, and most concerning, no attacking shape. As pleasing as it is to see AJ MacGinty barrel into the line at every opportunity, the Irish-American isn't doing nearly enough to mould the Sale backline into an attacking formation capable of amassing tries. MacGinty is clearly still not back to 100% fitness and questions must be asked of whether his play is suffering too much because of it. If he isn't fit enough to play the role of primary playmaker, he shouldn't be playing - and that's on Dimes for not allowing him sufficient time to recover. Elsewhere, Will Addison huffed and puffed but he can't do it all on his own. Johnny Leota's impact was mitigated by Bath's superb line speed. Paolo Odogwu looked his usual lively self but because of the relative impotence of his teammates, Bath were able to hone in and deny Odogwu the space he needs to exploit his natural pace and strength. On their returns Sam James and Mike Haley both threw themselves into the game but are evidently still a week or two away from a return to peak form. With the loss, Sale will now be looking anxiously over their shoulder and will likely drop back down the table to circa 8th or 9th should wins come to Northampton, Exeter and Newcastle this weekend. Attention now turns to a - at this point - probably unwanted European Champions Cup campaign that begins at the Parc y Scarlets next Saturday evening. Hopefully a return to Europe's premier club competition will spark a resurgence in a sputtering offense that has now cost Sale decisively in three of their opening six fixtures this season. Observations
Follow The Shark Tank on Twitter for more news, analysis, and opinions on all things Sale Sharks. Last week, following Sale's 34-34 draw away at Worcester, I wrote that the 'AJ MacGinty era' of Sale Sharks rugby had begun after the Irish-cum-American slotted all five of his kicks to ensure Sale left Sixways with a valuable three-point haul. Earlier that week, I also wrote that the only feasible solution to Sale's early-season backline woes was a patient approach whilst the Sharks' back division slowly acclimatised to each other and found a semblance of form and/or momentum. On Saturday I was at least right about one thing. Despite AJ MacGinty's 80-minute performance at fly-half, it would be outside centre Will Addison's turn to produce a flawless kicking performance with the 24-year-old converting all six of his opportunities at goal (four conversions and two penalties) to propel Sale to a prodigious 34-30 victory over Leicester Tigers at the AJ Bell Stadium. Addison, who valiantly, if somewhat ineffectively, handled kicking duties against Gloucester a fortnight ago after starting fly-half Dan Mugford sustained a leg injury in the opening two minutes, ceded kicking duties back to MacGinty against Worcester last week only to find himself thrust back into the same role due to a flare up of MacGinty's hamstring injury that has plagued him since round one. But whereas Addison was clearly rusty and unfamiliar serving as the team's primary goalkicker against Gloucester, the two weeks in between Sale's last home fixtures appear to have made a world of difference for the Cumbrian who went a perfect six-for-six from the tee and whose 14 point haul proved invaluable as Sale mustered their second win of the season over a very talented Leicester Tigers side. Mike Phillips, who also produced his finest performance of the season to date, opened the afternoon's scoring with an opportunistic burst through the middle before Peter Betham sliced Sale's worryingly porous line defence open twice in the space of three minutes. But Sale, playing on a Saturday afternoon for the first time this year, revelled in the firmer turf and better playing conditions that an afternoon kickoff provides and the misfiring backline which has been the ire of the Sharks' inconsistent start to the season came alive, Paolo Odogwu - continuing his ascension to stardom - and Johnny Leota both crashing over to bring an exhilarating first-half to a close in Sale's favour 24-20. The game inevitably tightened up in the second-half despite tighthead Halani Aulika's powerful effort to secure Sale the try bonus point on 55 minutes. And despite Tigers' winger Adam Thompstone's sterling finish in the right corner which saw him somehow ground the ball through to covering defenders, Addison's impeccable boot saw Sale home to record what already feels like a potential season-changing victory - a five point win over a team seemingly destined for a top-four finish is the perfect remedy to Sale's early-season ills and should provide a platform for a renewed assault on the upper mid-table cluster. With the win, Sale move back up to 5th in the table as of Sunday evening ahead of a trip to Bath and The Rec on Friday evening. Observations
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