Sharks are smiles better now: Alex

SALE director of rugby Alex Sanderson is excited by the squad’s potential after they demolished London Irish at the AJ Bell Stadium.

Sharks wing Byron McGuigan starred, touching down three times, while Simon Hammersley, Lood de Jager and Arron Reed also crossed the whitewash.

It keeps them in fourth place in the Gallagher Premiership but they are now six points clear of Northampton, who succumbed to Bristol yesterday.

Sanderson has consistently looked to rotate the team, which has perhaps contributed to some of their recent defeats, but the new boss believes that it is coming together.

“There’s been a little less aggressive form of rotation, so changing six as opposed to 10,” he said. “When those guys maybe came in the first time, they felt the pressure to perform.

“Hopefully now they understand that the pressure isn’t there because they’re always going to play, I’m always going to back them. They came, slotted in and played a lot more of their own game.

“The ability to squeeze a team, to pressurise them through your physicality, through your set-piece and your gamemanagement, it was there.

“In the past, we’ve gone under a bit. When we didn’t get the scores against Quins, when we didn’t get it against Bath with all that dominance. Whether or not we felt a bit sorry for ourselves, it affected us emotionally. Today, it didn’t. That’s a big stride for me. It’s a big win, not just for the bonus-point, but the fact that we were able to regulate our emotions and stay on it, and stay on top of them.”