Sharks eye top four after Saints victory
WE CAN BEAT THE BEST, SAYS BOSS DIAMOND
SALE Sharks director of rugby Steve Diamond believes his side can contend with the best after they claimed the scalp of Northampton Saints with a 22-10 victory at the AJ Bell Stadium.
The boot of Robert du Preez put Sale in front early on and soon after Chris Ashton scored the first try of the afternoon when he intercepted Cobus Reinach’s pass.
Northampton levelled before the break when Lewis Ludlam scored from close range and Dan Biggar slotted home a penalty and a conversion.
However, in the second half Sale pulled away as Rohan Janse van Rensburg and Akker Van Der Merwe scored tries within five minutes of each other.
Saints were top of the table heading into the match and Diamond was content with how his players kept Northampton’s attacking flair at bay.
“I’m very pleased. I think if we had kept hold of the ball in some other circumstances, we probably could have got a little bit more out of it,” Diamond said.
“Against a side that have been playing well all season and scored more tries than anybody, I think we managed to look after them in defence quite well.
“We know they’re good in the first two or three phases and they scored that first try. We just missed a oneon-one tackle but apart from that I think we handled them quite well.
“I told them to keep our discipline high. We were poor in that today and our turnovers second-half were poor.
“We had opportunities to maybe score other tries and we didn’t take them. Penalised five metres out, a rare occurrence, but fair play to the referee I thought he had a good game.”
Sale have a remarkable record against the Northampton outfit, who have only been able to win at the AJ Bell twice in the Premiership, and a strong defensive effort kept that record intact.
Despite having players missing through injury and an inconsistent start to the season, Sale have three wins under their belt and have moved up to fourth in the table.
Mixing it at the top is an ambition for Diamond, who acknowledged that being top four at Christmas had been a target for his side.
“I think we’ve got a squad to operate at the top end of the division,” Diamond added.
“We’re missing our locks obviously with Lood de Jager and Josh Beaumont injured, but we seemed to have weathered that storm and got over it.
“I think we may be touching the top four today and top four at Christmas was always a little bit of a target.
“So, if we can do that and we go to Bath next week, who knows where we can be in the next fortnight.”