Diamond hails Chiefs best in the league
RUGBY UNION
STEVE Diamond hopes Sale’s below-par performance in their defeat at Harlequins proves a dress rehearsal for a strong showing against Exeter, who he has described as the best side in the Gallagher Premiership.
Sharks resumed their league campaign on Friday following the Covid-19 enforced break, but despite fielding four World Cup finalists they slumped to a 16-10 defeat.
Next up for Diamond’s side is an AJ Bell clash against title rivals
Exeter, who are eight points clear at the top of the table after a
26-13 victory over Leicester last weekend.
“We didn’t actually turn it on (against Harlequins). We were disappointing to say the least,” said director of rugby Diamond.
“It might have been a dress rehearsal, well I hope it was, and we can kick-on this weekend.”
Exeter have finished in the top two in each of the last four seasons and won the play-off final in 2017.
Diamond admitted the consistency coach Rob Baxter has been able to get out of his players is the aim for all clubs in the top flight.
“They play a very powerful game and when they don’t score from a kick and go, they have class outside backs who can score like they did at the weekend,” he said.
“They are definitely the best side in the competition and have been in the top two for the last five or six years and that is where everyone wants to be.”
Before Sale failed to reach top gear on the pitch at Harlequins, a lot of focus ahead of the fixture centred on how the clubs would support the Black Lives Matter movement.
All of the Harlequins players took a knee in a circle, but only four from the Sharks did, although every member of their starting XV wore a ‘Rugby against racism’ T-shirt.
Eight of Sale’s 11 not to take a knee were South African and this week the country’s minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa, questioned why they did not take a knee.
But Diamond added: “I think there was four of our lot who took the knee, that’s their entitlement, and the rest didn’t.
“I think it’ll be a storm in a tea cup. We all wore the rugby against racism T-shirts, which we thought was important, but I don’t think it’s too much to worry about if I’m honest.”
Sale and Harlequins will do battle again on September 21 in the final of the Premiership Rugby Cup.
It was originally scheduled for March before the coronavirus pandemic saw it postponed and, despite a packed fixture list, the 52-year-old is pleased it will be played during the 2019-20 campaign.
Diamond said: “I think it is worthwhile doing it this season. We will get through that and no doubt Quins will as well.
“I am glad we managed to fit it in and before the end of the season so we don’t have to play it in the two or three week break we get.”
No Sale player can start three games in a week under new rules brought out to protect players during the hectic fixture list caused by the
Covid-19 pandemic.
Also for the current Gallagher Premiership campaign, no player can feature in more than 180 minutes if selected in the matchday 23 on three occasions in a week.
And in the new protocols released by the Professional Game Board, between August 14 and September 13, a player cannot be selected in more than six matches and a player’s training load will be managed if they are in three matchday squads during a seven-day period.
Clubs will give players three weeks off at the end of the Premiership season, but those in the play-off final will only be able to offer their squad a two-and-a-half week break and also have just one-and-a-half weeks to prepare for round one of the 2020-21 campaign. No pre-season friendlies will be arranged for clubs in the Premiership or European finals either.
England players will be given a one-week break after they have played
Italy in the Six Nations on October 31 and a further two weeks off following their return to club rugby in December.
Sale’s 2020-21 Premiership season will start on November 20 and conclude with the play-off final on June 26. A game-wide mental health monitoring programme will also be launched and will be available for all players. There will be no Premiership Rugby Shield next season, but this decision will be reviewed.