Dimes wants to get hands on silverware
WINNING the Premiership Rugby Cup is a must for Steve Diamond if Sale Sharks are to emulate the route to success achieved by Saracens and Exeter Chiefs.
The Sharks are just one game away from a shot at their first piece of major silverware since 2006, welcoming Premiership and European champions Saracens to the AJ Bell tonight.
Diamond’s side cruised through the group stage of the competition, winning all four of their games – including a 36-17 triumph against the Men in Black – to book their spot in the semi-finals. And despite the ongoing turmoil at Saracens, who have already been relegated from the Premiership due to salary cap breaches, Diamond insists Sale want to match their achievements on the pitch. “I think we’re heading in the right direction, I think we’re definitely on the up,” he said. “The stuff that has happened off the field with Saracens has taken all the limelight, all the news.
“It’s not good for the game. What Saracens have always done is do their talking on the pitch and I think they have got their knickers in a twist the way they have gone about things.
“I think what has happened now is done and a line in the sand should be put. They have taken their medicine, probably not as honourably as they should have done, if I’m honest.
“But they’ve now done that and they get on with it. We face them twice, once in the cup on Friday and then in the league, and whatever we say about them they are a phenomenal side.
“The clubs who we are trying to emulate, the Saracens and Exeters, have all won this trophy and we don’t want to be a nearly team, we want to be a team everyone respects.”
Diamond has made three changes to the starting XV that beat Premiership league leaders Exeter Chiefs last time out, with Coenie Oosthuizen, Marland Yarde and Denny Solomona coming in.
There will also be a place on the bench for debutant Mark Wilson.