McGinty on the good foot for Sharks

SALE Sharks fly-half AJ MacGinty is putting his best foot forward after having made a superb start to the new Premiership campaign.

The Irish-born American international boasts a staggering 93.3 per cent success rate from his penalties and conversions after nailing 14 out of 15 kicks from Sale’s opening three games.

It could have been 100 per cent had MacGinty’s final conversion in last Friday’s 36-7 win over London Irish not struck an upright. AJ credits Sale kicking coach Jon Callard for playing a key role in helping him shoot to the top of the Premiership kicking charts.

“I’m pretty happy with how the kicks are going,” MacGinty said. “I’ve been doing a lot of work with our kicking coach Jon Callard and he’s been brilliant for me.

“He’s really helped my confidence and now I’ve just got to continue to work really hard and listen to what he says as he has a fantastic eye for detail.

“All the other kickers here are all doing brilliantly as well working with Jon, so it is really competitive in training.”

Sale face a huge challenge this weekend when they travel to take on European champions Saracens at Allianz Park tomorrow.

Mark McCall’s side have won two of their opening three games and overcame Newcastle Falcons in the USA last wekend.

MacGinty added: “We know we’ll need to defend well there as we’ll be under a lot more pressure.”