Desperate times for Diamond’s frail Sharks
RELEGATION has not been a word in the Sale vocabulary for the last few years and, while the likelihood of being drawn towards Bristol is moot, an uncomfortable Christmas is certainly on the cards.
In truth, the Sharks have been poor for the majority of the campaign but the last three weeks have particularly exposed their frailties.
Against the league’s best – Saracens, Wasps and now a rejuvenated Exeter – the Manchester outfit have been outclassed, producing performances which has their director of rugby Steve Diamond concerned.
“The team’s not playing well; there’s not much confidence in them,” Diamond said. “I think I need to take them out on the lash or something!
“We’ve gone from a team who finished fifth or sixth over the last five years to looking like it could be in a relegation battle. We need to pull our finger out.
“We’re not getting our basics right. We couldn’t stop a maul five metres out, which we usually can do.”
As Diamond alluded to, it was the Chiefs’ driving game that laid the platform for the visitors’ excellent and ultimately comfortable victory.
It continued the Chiefs’ superb recent progress with Friday’s win completing a haul of 14 points out of a possible 15, a run which has put them firmly back in the play-off picture.
Those from Exeter may argue that it should have been a bonus win, such was their dominance, but head coach Rob Baxter was more than happy to leave the North West with ‘just’ the win.
They controlled the game from the off, dominating the kicking exchanges and pinning the hosts back into their 22. The Sharks, with the pressure proving too much, eventually yielded as the Chiefs decimated the home team’s resistance.
The first score came via a perfectly executed catch and drive, an effort which seemed destined to end in a try for one of the forwards until Josh Beaumont cynically hauled down the advancing surge.
Penalty try and a yellow card for the Sale captain was the result of his indiscretion before he returned to oversee another dismantling in the tight.
Once again, following a five-metre lineout, the Sharks struggled to contain the Exeter pack and, although they managed to halt the initial burst, Will Chudley found James Short who wriggled his way over from close range.
With Gareth Steenson converting both to leave the visitors 14-3 ahead – AJ MacGinty giving the Manchester outfit a semblance of respectability with a penalty – the result, even at that point, was inevitable.
It was duly put beyond doubt when Chudley crossed the whitewash. For this touchdown the Chiefs found their fluidity, Short locating Sam Hill who in turn off-loaded to the scrum-half for an 18-point buffer.
After 36 minutes of consistent pressure the bonus point seemed inevitable, but the scoreboard would not be altered thereafter.
Instead, with last season’s beaten finalists in command, a rather dreary second half ensued.
Josh Charnley did his best to liven up proceedings, but it rather summed up Sale’s evening that a player still in the embryonic stage of his Rugby Union career should be their most potent threat.
Exeter are well and truly on the way up while the Sharks may have to start looking over their shoulder.