Quins win put Sanderson in a spin
ALEX Sanderson admits that downing champions Harlequins last week had him dancing for joy – in the kitchen with his wife until the early hours of the morning.
Sanderson is one of the Premiership’s most engaging coaches, who gives straight answers.
Ask him what affect results like the 28-22 win have on him and his young family, and he comes back with an honest answer.
“I went home and drank two bottles of red wine and danced around the kitchen table with my wife until 2am,” Sanderson said. “I had the family up for the weekend, including my dad, who has dementia.
“He isn’t going to come to many more games if I’m honest, so that is probably a memory that is going to last with him until the end of his days.
“It is things like that which make it all worthwhile – the long days, and a couple of hard losses that we have to had – to get a win like with all the people you love makes it quite special.”
The former England back row is eight months into his first top job in the game and isn’t afraid to admit to the things he is finding difficult.
“I struggle with being in the moment of the week, which is the performance, and then having to step back and look at the big picture and not be totally immersed in the weekend.
“The other thing is finding time for my family, and I haven’t got the balance right yet. I go home and talk to my wife about things. She is a great soundboard. I say it, then I feel better, but come 8.30 or 9pm the kids are saying, why don’t you have a day off, dad.
“But that said, I am loving, absolutely loving, the job. I am not complaining. I think it’s the nature of the job and understanding how much you can do because it’s not sustainable for a lot of coaches over a long period.”
Sanderson is very much a tracksuit coach who loves nothing more than getting out on the training pitch with his players but admits that doesn’t happen as much as he would like.
Every director of rugby has to plan for the future, and part of that is dealing and negotiating with agents, which makes Sanderson uncomfortable.
“I have said time and again that I don’t want to be involved in the money side. It’s the devil. Start talking about money to players and you take away the human element. It becomes more of a chat about a commodity and it breaks me a bit. I cannot look at players like they are numbers.
“It is people’s live and I really struggle with that. I have to understand that it’s part of my role to fit into the salary cap and the overall plan, but most of the negotiations I leave to our CEO, Sid Sutton. I like on the field coaching but I am not getting as much of that and I miss that.”