Another home European tie, another performance to be proud of in a game few gave Sale Sharks a chance in, but unfortunately another narrow loss, this time 15-19 to Saracens as tries from Andrei Ostrikov and Mangus Lund were not enough to stave off eliminations from the inaugural European Rugby Champions Cup. PositivesMany:
Negatives
With european qualification now impossible, Sale will likely use next week's return fixture at Allianz Park to give many of the team's rotation players and academy graduates game-time at the highest level in addition to resting key squad members ahead of two crucial Premiership clashes with Exeter and Leicester later this month. European rugby was at least fun while it lasted.
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Coming off a trio of wins in the Premiership, Sale's focus now turns again to the European Rugby Champions Cup as they face Saracens in Round 3 of the competition in the first of a home-and-home series against the Fez heads. Here's three things to keep a look out for:
1) How's the attendance? Sale's largest gate of the season was their last home game in the ERCC against Munster coming in at just under 10,000 attendees, albeit helped significantly by the 3,000 or travelling Irish fans. Without such rapid away support, how many will Sale be able to pull in for another game in Europe's top club competition. If top-level European rugby isn't enough to draw fans in, what is? 2) How will Sale cope with their mounting injury list? As we are all well aware of, Sale are a small club with a small playing squad. And for clubs such as ours, injuries can derail a season in a blink of an eye. In the last two weeks Sale have lost Tom Arscott, Dave Seymour, Michael Paterson and Alberto Di Marchi - four key members of the Sale first choice 23 to add to the continued absences of Nathan Hines and Tommy Taylor. Those injuries plus rests for Dan Braid and Johnny Leota were always going to put Sale under the cosh against Saracens but will getting through this game without adding another Shark to the treatment table be enough to comprise a moral victory for Sale regardless of Saturday's scoreline? 3) Will Addison is back! An injury-riddled start to the season had kept Will Addison out of contention for nearly all of Sale's first 10 or so games this season and a string of impressive performances from both Mark Jennings and Andy Forsyth has allowed Steve Diamond the luxury of not having to rush Addison back into the match day 23. But with Addison now back to full fitness and Mark Jennings starting at 13, Addison has found himself a spot on the bench for tomorrow's game. The optimist in me says this will finally be the beginning of Addison's ascent into a first-choice team member week-in, week-out for Sale (he certainly has the talent) but the realist side is anxiously watching every collision and tackle Addison goes into fearing we will see Addison stretched off the field for seemingly the umpteenth time in three-ish seasons. Look for him to get 15 minutes off the bench and possibly at wing where both Luke McLean and Mark Cueto (tomorrow's incumbent wingers) have both flattered to deceive so far this season. Prediction: Sale 14 - Saracens 30 Injuries to key Sale players along with the selection of a powerhouse Saracens squad should unfortunately mean tomorrow will be the end of Sale's European adventure with chances of qualification to the latter rounds eliminated with a loss. That being said, I never expected us to get anywhere close to Munster so maybe my pessimism is mis-placed. Here's hoping. See you at the game. In the last week there have been two articles; one in the Manchester Evening News and today in the Daily Mail speculating on Danny Cipriani's short-term and long-term future at Sale Sharks.
Both articles made clear that a decision on his contract is not forthcoming for Cipriani (likely not until the new year when he can speak freely to other teams and see what they have to offer) but precious little else that we have not heard already, so unfortunately its up to me to have to do some serious reading between the lines quoted and try and elucidate the current situation between club and player. Cipriani's comments are pretty clear: ‘I’m not eager to get a move, I just want to make sure the team shows the right ambition then it is somewhere I would want to stay. You do grow fond of a place, but play-off rugby is what I want to be involved in.’ How do Sale match that ambition? This current squad and coaching set up, in my objective opinion, is good enough to be a top-six team but little more. Cipriani, a huge presence both on the field and off it for the club, wants to be challenging for the play-offs and thats perfectly reasonable. He's a marvellous talent, in the prime of his career and someone who could walk into nearly every starting lineup in the world (except England's seemingly). Simply put, to match Danny's ambitions and push themselves into top-four contention, Sale need to actively recruit a small number of international quality (from Tier 1 sides, not the Italys and Russias of world rugby) to supplement a squad that is high on experience, enthusiasm and graft but is slightly lacking in game-breaking ability (although lets see how Mike Haley continues to develop). However Diamond's comments in both the MEN and Mail were equally surprising considering the shoe-string budget Sale are forced to operate on and shows that they are aware of what must be done to retain Danny. Dimes is quoted as saying earlier this week - "We’re targeting two or three very good players. Two of them, we are meeting again this week – non-Premiership players." Now what defines 'very good' is incredibly subjective and often, myself and Diamond have not seen eye-to-eye when it comes to evaluating talent but it is at least reassuring to hear Diamond already has some ostensibly top class players lined up to push the club onwards. Additionally I noted there was a curious statement Cipriani made in both interviews where he said: "If the club shows ambition and signs certain players, that’s what I want to see and shows we’re going in the right direction." I am fully of the opinion that no-one, not even someone as uniquely gifted as Danny Cipriani, should be bigger than the club he represents, but his use of the phrase "certain players" makes me wonder, perhaps overly optimistically, whether Cipriani and Diamond are collating on transfer policy and these 'very good' players Diamond is meeting next week are of Cipriani's choosing. If so, does this make a Cipriani re-signing a certainty if Diamond is able to conclude a deal? Probably. Cipriani is a massive asset for Sale to have on and off the field (he makes up the bulk of their advertising and marketing material) and re-signing him is Sale's number 1 priority this season. That should be reflected in Diamond being given the funds to attract the calibre of players Cipriani desires to play with (and remember Cipriani himself is a major recruiting tool). Its a short-term investment needed to be made by majority owner Brian Kennedy and the club if they wish to keep perhaps the most talented player Sale have had for a number of years even if the short-term finances are still struggling. A top-four calibre team with Cipriani playing alongside another two world-class players is what Sale need if they are ever to compete in the football-dominated market that is Greater Manchester. What do I think happens RE: Cipriani's contract? Like the linked Mail article suggests, I see Cipriani re-signing on a one-year deal based on who Diamond is able to initially recruit for the 2015/16 season with an eye on both his England prospects following next year's world cup and who Diamond can again bring to Salford with the traditionally post-world cup exodus. |
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