Perfect response as Sharks sting Wasps
DIAMOND PRAISES SALE PERFORMANCE AFTER TOUGH DEFEAT
STEVE Diamond praised his Sale side for the way they bounced back from their thrashing by Northampton last week with Saturday’s 24-18 win at Wasps.
The Sharks were hammered 67-17 at Franklin’s Gardens last week and Diamond described the performance as ‘one of the worst days at the office’ and accused his players of not being ‘right between the ears.’
But he heaped praise on them this week after a Faf de Klerk-inspired win over Wasps at the Ricoh Arena.
The South African scrum-half was part of everything that was good about Sale – he was involved in all three tries and kicked seven points.
And Diamond said: “We’ve had some great results up until last week, quarter-final in one of the competitions, five out of six in the league.
“We probably felt we were better than we were going to Northampton, it was embarrassing. We dusted ourselves down and only trained once this week on Tuesday.
“We knew how we wanted to play and they knew what they had to do and fair play, they did it.
“We got the rub of green but we deserved the win.
“With the benefit of hindsight we did not start the season well, with not many competitive games and having a three-week break we probably got it wrong putting a weakened side out in a competition we couldn’t win. Vacation periods will be shorter in future.”
Tries from Rob Webber, Denny Solomona and a penalty try helped Sharks edge a hard-fought game at the Ricoh Arena.
Ashley Johnson crossed for Wasps in the first half but Joe Simpson’s second-half try almost launched a comeback.
But Sale’s defence stood strong to avoid Wasps snatching victory as they claimed just their second away win in 10 Premiership games.
Speaking of the impact of de Klerk, Diamond was quick to praise the impact of the 27-year-old and hailed him as ‘world class’ and a ‘free spirit.’
“Faf de Klerk is a world-class player,” said Diamond. “He did a great job today and was good off the tee, particularly the one before half-time. He was bang on and made the right decision and nailed it.
“In the end, we won the game narrowly so it was really important that he did that. He reads the game well and is a bit of a free spirit.”
The result leaves Sale in eighth in the Gallagher Premiership and seven points off the end-of-season semi-finals.
WILL Carling has defended Kyle Sinckler after his ill-discipline contributed to England’s secondhalf collapse in their 21-13 Six Nations defeat by Wales.
Sinckler gave away successive penalties at a key stage as a 10-3 interval lead – set up by a try from Sale’s Tom Curry – ebbed away, a late hit on Gareth Anscombe and choke hold on Alun Wyn Jones resulting in referee Jaco Peyper’s intervention.
“Kyle Sinckler a cheap target by some pundits. Man was amazing in defence 1st half,” said Carling on Twitter.
“He was a huge target for the Welsh, no issue with that, but he is fast maturing.
“The man is going to be awesome.” CHRIS Eubank Jnr is to explore returning to middleweight after reviving his career with a victory that leaves James DeGale facing retirement.
The 29-year-old dominated their grudge supermiddleweight match-up at London’s O2 Arena, knocking DeGale down twice to secure the finest win of his career and put himself back in contention for a world title challenge.
He has been fighting at 168lbs since February 2017, yet continued to appear a natural middleweight. He had long suggested a return there would give him his greatest chance of success.
His father and manager Chris Eubank Snr, who excelled in both divisions, is encouraging him to return.
Saturday’s victory was also Eubank Jnr’s first under his new trainer Nate Vasquez, and came as he demonstrated signs of significant improvement.
“This was a career-defining fight for me, this was make-orbreak, do-or-die,” he said. “I had to win, I had to make a statement, and I believe that’s exactly what I did.
“I want to challenge for world titles, I want to fight big names, the best in the middleweight or super-middleweight division.
“Whatever’s put in front of me, whatever the best route is, I will take.”