Ashton: Sale can be Prem top-four force
CHRIS Ashton believes Sale Sharks have enough world-class players in their side to become a top-four team in the Premiership.
The England winger is in his first season with the club after his summer move from France back to his native north west after a spell with Toulon.
However, a seven-week ban in pre-season for a tip-tackle, followed by an England call-up, means Ashton has had little time to gel with his new team-mates.
But the 31-year-old from Wigan has already seen enough to know that the club is heading in the right direction – despite their lowly position in the Gallagher Premiership.
“I know the owners and the coaches want to be a top-four team. The players do too, so that’s the goal,” he told M.E.N. Sport.
“We’ve probably not had enough time together, but hopefully as the season goes on we’ll get better.
“We need to spend more time on the pitch together, that’ll help. We need to get wins, because that creates confidence in itself.
“A couple of games recently we’ve been on the wrong side of the result and that’s been due to some small errors from us, so as soon as we start picking them up, we’ll be moving in the right direction.”
“We’ve got more than enough world-class players in the team.”
Director of rugby Steve Diamond has had his critics, but Ashton believes he has the same winning mentality as himself to make sure the Sharks are successful.
He said: “I’ve only come across Steve playing against Sale before, I’ve never spent too much time in his company, but I know a lot of people, a friend of a friend through him, and he’s a real good bloke. He loves his club, his heart and soul is in the club, and I think you can see that by the way he operates on the side of the pitch.
“He wants us to win and I’m exactly the same.”
Signing Ashton was a major coup for Sale, but for the player himself, having decided he wanted to return to England, there was only one real destination. “I’m from here, I always thought I would play here,” he said. “I hoped I’d play here at some point in my career.
“Sometimes opportunities come around in a strange way, and it was the right time for me. France was a great experience, a valuable experience on and off the pitch. I really enjoyed it. I always wanted to play for England again so I had to get back sooner rather than later.”
Ashton, Faf de Klerk and captain Jono Ross joined Diamond and Sale co-owner Simon Orange in bagging £5,500 worth of toys and gifts in a festive trolley dash at B&M in Sale for the Mission Christmas campaign.
The 1,100 items collected were bought by the club and will be donated to the Cash for Kids’ campaign to ensure disadvantaged children around Manchester have presents to open on Christmas morning.
Orange said: “As a club, we firmly believe in giving back to our local community and we hope these gifts help to put a smile on the faces of hundreds of young people.”