By Tom Jeffreys
Saints, Bath, Saints and then Saints again. Sale Sharks winning their season opener at home is a well-versed story and this Sunday, Alex Sanderson’s men have the chance to win a fifth consecutive season opener at the Salford Community Stadium against Harlequins.
Winning starts have been a hallmark of the Sharks’ ascendancy to consistent title challengers in the Sanderson era having secured top four finishes in three of the last four seasons, and despite a mixed record against this weekend’s opponents, Tom Roebuck and Rob du Preez are savouring the chance to kick off another title challenge with another win.
The honours were split between the two sides last season, Sharks’ mid-season dip instigated by a 36-3 defeat at the Stoop and run-in resurgence continued with a 37-31 victory at home, whilst the season before both sides snagged away wins in the Gallagher Premiership either side of a win for Sale in the Premiership Rugby Cup.
Sharks’ opening weekend record speaks for itself, however, and they look to have carried their good form from the backend of last term’s regular season with preseason wins against Caldy and Newcastle, and a hard-fought loss to an experienced Connacht side.
In terms of the Connacht defeat, some wiggle room must be afforded, as Sanderson and co went about adding the extra layers to the game necessary to return some silverware this year in a condensed preseason. “It’s been short”, says Tom Roebuck, who returned just four weeks ago having won his maiden international cap against Japan. “We had two weeks training, then we played – not that I’m complaining!”
“I came back from camp at the same time as everyone from England and Scotland, and we thought ‘these lads have been grafting so we’ve just got to dig in’, and it’s been good.
“Transition attack is probably an element of the game that we can hold our hands up and say that we weren’t as lightning quick and smooth as some other teams last year, so in preseason we’ve looked to develop that even more after we really developed it in those last five games last season
“We want to try and move the ball, find space, create one-on-ones so we can expose any gaps we see, and get our fast runners or our dangerous players onto the ball as quick as possible”.
As he showed during his 25 minute cameo vs Japan, Roebuck himself is one of those fast, dangerous players and it will fall upon the likes of du Preez to get him the ball. The South African playmaker echoes his winger’s sentiment that Sale have found a recipe for success over the last couple of seasons that just needs further development.
“We’ve put some things into place over preseason, a lot of it is doubling down on what we’ve been doing, and being better at that”, says Sale fly-half Rob du Preez, who is entering his sixth year at the club.
“A big part of our identity is our physical nature, our strong defence. Historically and statistically we’re probably up there with the best in terms of physical dominance and our defence, so that’s something that will always be part of us, in our DNA.
“We find it exciting to bang people about”
One thing that certainly has changed, however, is how the Sharks line up in the midfield, with statement signing Waisea Nayacalevu set to add to his two preseason outings – in which he scored three tries – in a first competitive appearance.
“He’s a really exciting player”, says du Preez, who is likely to partner the former-Toulon man this weekend. “It’s always nice to have a guy that can make something happen from nothing. We just need to get him the ball”
“He’s a bit of a beast”, adds Roebuck, who will have to be on full alert for the Fijian captain’s prolific offloading game. “He’s going to be a runner, someone that wants the ball in his hands, looking for offloads, putting us back 3 into gaps, hopefully they stick in the wet weather!”
In terms of Quins, they’re also a side in transition in the midfield as they acclimatise to life without South African juggernaut André Esterhuizen. “It’s always nice not to be up against André, he was quite a menace”, says his compatriot du Preez. “A lot of the good stuff they did was off the back of his dominance in the carry. We won’t miss him.
“We know they’ve got very skilful and flashy players like Marcus Smith and Alex Dombrandt, but it’s about controlling that, and how we can impose our game on them”.
“Quins is always a feisty tussle, a fiery game”, adds Roebuck, who will have his work cut out for him with the likes of Cadan Murley, Tyrone Green, and potentially new signing Rodrigo Isgró, the Argentine sevens sensation lining up opposite. “We’re ready to do a job on them. They’re a team that want to give their outside backs the ball, it’s going to be a challenge but I’m relishing just being back at our place.
“It’s something we’ve missed over the past three-to-four months.”
Tickets to the Sharks’ season opener against harlequins are still available here.
