Despite playing under half of Sale’s Premiership minutes in the six-game opening  block, Arron Reed, fresh from an international debut for Scotland, has arguably made as big an impact as anyone else for Sharks this season. 

The 25-year-old had, in his own words, “one of my best games in a Sale shirt” in his first game of the season vs Gloucester, was withdrawn after injuring his hip whilst scoring his second try vs Newcastle, and followed that up with a call-up to Scotland’s Autumn Nations Series squad.  

He was also part of the Sharks squad that travelled to Bath for our last Gallagher Premiership game ahead of the international window, and it was a trip that meant confronting a personal blemish on an otherwise defining season in Arron’s career. With competition as esteemed as Tom Roebuck and Tom O’Flaherty, there’s always going to be one top class winger missing out in Sale’s starting XV, and for last season’s semi-final at The Rec, it was the man from Preston.  

Having earned a first international call up during the Six Nations, playing 17 and starting 14 of Sale’s 19 Premiership games and being on the cusp of a debut vs Canada, Arron’s club season had ended in disappointment, but a stark conversation and a successful tour in which he scored a brace on his internationsl debut has galvanised the Sharks academy product. 

“It was a long conversation that [Alex Sanderson and I] had on Knutsford Heath”, he recalls. “It was after the Bath game. I didn’t get picked for it and it was a conversation about why he didn’t pick me. 

“We had a very honest conversation about what I need to do, and what I need to do better to play the big games. 

“It was a tough conversation but it did eventually come down to work rate and me having the confidence in myself to go and do it. Since that conversation I’ve been making it my job to work hard for the team, not even just attack, even in defence to chase back, all that sort of stuff. Because those moments are big moments for teams to win games so it was a work rate thing. 

“It wasn’t a ‘you’re not working hard’ it was more of a ‘we want you to work even harder, another step up on and off the ball’”. 

Those work-ons have manifested clearly this season, most memorably with his 80 metre chase back and double tackle in the closing stages of the Gloucester game with the victory appearing to be a foregone conclusion. It’s that sort of effort that Sanderson was no doubt forecasting on Knutsford Heath, although Arron’s head coach refuses to take any credit.  

“If someone can improve themselves and play with that kind of form off the back of one conversation, I’ve got to be some kind of miracle worker”, says Alex. “It’s not down to me at all, it’s solely down to how he’s grafted, and evolved his game. 

 “Because he’s not the aerial threat that a Tom Roebuck is, he’s got to get carries, sheer number of carries, be really busy, use his speed in the wider channels, go to go to his strengths, and he’s done that, he’s found a way to get to the ball over ten times.  

“I just said I believed in him, simple as that, sometimes you just need to get out the working environment and see someone in the cow fields for them believe you”.  

Indeed there have been other conversations, he cites work throughout his career with Byron McGuigan – “one of the best defensive wingers in the league when he was playing” as vital, and namechecks post-Summer conversations with Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend and defence coach Steve Tandy as catalysts for his strong start.  

“The main things for me were more of an attacking point”, says Arron. “I played against Canada and Chile, got the ball quite a lot and got to show myself. 

“Gregor and Steve were just saying in the Prem games, make sure you’re doing the same stuff that you’ve been doing against those teams, in terms of getting on the ball, finding different ways of getting on the ball whether it’s off nine, off kicks, whatever it is.  

“Getting myself on the ball to show my super strength.  

“Defence has never been a weakness”, continues Reed, “but having it as a strength as well is important.  

“I got quite a bit of feedback from the summer tour, they said my defence was really good as well but there’s a few bits which I could work on, basically a lot of it is around communication and confidence. 

“I had my most important season getting my debut, and that’s down to the way we’ve been playing at Sale. This season my goals are pretty similar, keeping up my form with Sale and getting a starting shirt for Scotland.” 

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