Slack off and we’ll get given a proper beating
STEVE Diamond issued a warning to his Sale Sharks side as he looks to avoid another defeat on the road at Worcester Warriors.
Diamond’s men went to Sixways with the wind in their sails last season and were promptly turned over 39-17.
This time around, the Sharks are in similarly shining nick ahead of their trip to the West Midlands, a well-won 25-15 triumph in their Heineken Champions Cup clash against La Rochelle last Sunday a sign of their qualities, but Diamond does not want them getting complacent.
“We went to Worcester last year having won seven games on the trot and got our arse kicked, 39-17 by a side that were desperate,” he said.
“They’re well-coached; they’re a good team; they remind me a lot of a team we used to have at Sale: not such big names, but they deliver.
“Unless we’re up there we’ll be on the backside of a good hiding.”
Following the return of their World Cup stars, Diamond has opted to throw his brightest and best back into first-team action, displacing the understudies who had filled in admirably in their absence.
The likes of Faf de
Klerk and Tom Curry both continue in the starting XV as Diamond makes just two changes to the side that beat La Rochelle at the AJ Bell last time out.
Sam James and Valery Morozov come in for Luke James and Ross Harrison respectively, with the head coach keen on seniority.
“Unless one of the young lads comes through and hits form, then I’ll always rely on my experienced team, so I’m picking the strongest team that I can to go to Worcester,” he explained.
“I know where the progression is in the team. We went to La Rochelle last year and we were beaten up.
“We lost the game and were clinging on by our fingernails to be competitive. This week we beat La Rochelle up; we should have scored 40 points and we didn’t; and we should’ve kept them to seven points and not given them a consolation try at the end, so we’ve come a long way in a short space of time.
“What we’ve got to do, when we’ve got the ball, is be accurate, because I don’t want to keep saying that we’ve missed another opportunity.
“Our line-out didn’t function in the first four weeks of the season and we lost to Gloucester and Bristol because of it.
“We’ve come a long way in a short space of time”.