Sanderson backs his Oz mission to boost Sharks
ALEX Sanderson heads down under this month to ensure his Sale side get over the line for a top-four place next season after narrowly missing out this campaign.
Accompanied by three members of his coaching staff, the Sharks’ director of rugby is jetting off to Australia to pick up ideas from some of the top sporting franchises there, starting with Melbourne Storm.
They will also visit one of the city’s Australian Rules teams, Richmond, before travelling to Sydney to meet officials from the Penrith Panthers rugby league team and another Rules club, Sydney Swans.
“We are growing as a team and, especially on the back of this season, we realise we do not know it all by any stretch,” said Sanderson. “We are going to visit the best organisations and see what they have got for us.
“It is something Saracens did when I was there and one of the ideas they picked up from basketball and rugby league sides was that to succeed you need cohesion. The successful teams are the ones that keep their best players together for a long time.”
Sale went into the final round of the regular season unable to make the play-offs. Although they could have caught Northampton in fourth place, they could only equal their 70 points but, having won fewer matches, would not have been
able to
overtake them. “I will take my time to reflect on the season,” said Sanderson, who took over at Sale from Steve Diamond at the end of 2020 and now has to plot for life without two South African World Cup winners, Faf de Klerk and Lood de Jager, who are leaving the club.
“It has been a successful campaign but not a success. There have been performances to be proud of, but we are not where we hoped we would be when we gathered last summer.
“It swings on what could have been. I would have backed us to win the game at Newcastle that was called off because of Covid and we would have been in a different position going into the final game.
“We suffered some poor defeats but the players could not have worked harder. There is an argument I might not be talented enough in this role. It is down to your values and principles and while there have been positive aspects, we had high hopes at the start of the season.”
Sale are losing four of their South African players with Rohan Janse van Rensburg joining the Sharks in Durban and JP du Preez heading north to Glasgow, but England internationals George Ford and Jonny Hill have been added to the squad.
“We have a bit of money left and could be recruiting, but anyone coming in would have to be many times better than what we have otherwise we will be blocking the pathway for homegrown talent,” said Sanderson.
“We had 11 academy players in our 23 for the final game. The South
Africans are leaving a void we have to fill.”