De Klerk bows out with a final flourish
FAF de Klerk bade an emotional farewell to Sale after being cruelly denied a fairytale finish.
The World Cup-winning Springbok scrum-half, 30, touched down from a kick in the second half – but was ruled offside. It was De Klerk’s final appearance after five seasons at Sale where he has become an icon.
Director of rugby Alex Sanderson subbed him on the hour and said: “Special people leave an indelible mark and as Faf moves on, I wish him well but there will be forever be a part of him in the Sale DNA.
“Letting Faf have the appreciation of the fans was great and we’ll have a good drink on the back of this win. It was a good way to finish the campaign and we will take this feeling into pre-season, rather than being sour at not making the play-offs. It’s been a successful season – without it being a success.”
Signed in 2017, De Klerk helped inspire South Africa to World Cup glory in 2019, proving himself one of the finest rugby talents on the planet, but a move to Japanese side Yokohama Canon Eagles now beckons.
Sale also bade farewell to two more South Africans in hard-hitting centre Rohan Janse van Rensberg and lock Lood de Jager, and the retiring fullback Simon Hammersley.
Sanderson, whose major signings for next season include Leicester fly-half George Ford and Exeter duo Jonny Hill and Tom O’Flaherty, handed De Klerk the captaincy for this game.
His educated left boot caused problems for Bristol from the off as Sale led 28-0 at the interval. Their first try came when De Klerk collected possession at a scrum and threw a quick pass out to winger Tom Roebuck, who outmuscled Toby Fricker and dived over in the right corner.
Sale’s squad has a distinctly South African flavour and two more men from the Rainbow Nation got their names on the scoresheet.
First, hooker Akker van der Merwe showed brute force to gallop through a handful of visiting defenders and score following a lineout.
Lock Cobus Wiese then exposed further frailties in the Bristol rearguard to manoeuvre his way over from close range.
Wiese was at it again on the stroke of half-time, displaying impressive pace and strength to dive over inside the left channel.
Bristol, who had a wellworked score finished off by Fricker ruled out for a forward pass during the first half, eventually touched down through the winger early in the second half. Callum Sheedy converted before De Klerk sauntered clear to touch down moments later. The elation was short-lived, however, as the TMO adjudged he was offside.
It felt cruel and he departed along with South African half-back partner Rob du Preez to rapturous applause before Dan Du Preez and Arron Reed added further home scores.
Bristol trio Alapati Leiua, John Afoa and Nathan Hughes all made farewell appearances, the latter scoring twice in the closing stages. Yet director of rugby Pat Lam, whose side finished a disappointing 10th, admitted: “We gave away some soft tries but we’ll be back to work in four weeks. We’ve got to improve on the fundamentals.
“We’re excited about coming back. When you've had a season like this all you want to do is come back in and improve the things you know you can get better at.
"We’ve got to put a lot more pressure on individuals to improve these skills and push on ourselves as coaches.”