Sanderson: We can’t fall in closing stages
SUCCESSFUL Grand National punter Alex Sanderson knows victory against Harlequins today is vital if his team are going to last the distance in the most competitive play-off race in history.
Sanderson, below, hedged his bets on a team outing to Aintree last Saturday, making 13 selections from the field of 34 horses and coming up with the winner I Am Maximus. A blanket approach could easily apply to the Premiership, too, as any one of eight teams can still walk away with the silverware.
Only seven points separated Bath in second to the Sharks in eighth heading into Round 15, with all the teams involved each having eight wins.
As the team bringing up the rear in the chasing pack behind leaders Northampton, Premiership stats provider Oval Insights have ranked last year’s beaten finalists Sale as rank outsiders, giving them a 26 per cent chance of making the top four.
After Harlequins at home, Sale travel to Newcastle for ‘the Diamond derby’, then they welcome Leicester to Salford before travelling down to Sanderson’s former club Saracens in the final round,
“If you were to ask me right now with the way we trained I would say the odds are pretty good, probably better than that. But they have got super computers to work out the odds, who am I to argue with artificial intelligence?” joked the Sharks’ director of rugby.
“I’m a terrible gambler. We went to the Grand National and I won on I Am Maximus. The fact I bet on 12 other horses, I came away with no money but I felt like a winner.
“If we fall at any of the next four hurdles it becomes significantly harder and I would say our chances drop from 26 per cent to single figures.”
Sale’s last Premiership match against Exeter summed up just how ridiculously unpredictable the Premiership has been this season.
The Sharks went down to Devon in October and lost 43-0 – being ‘nilled’ for the first time in the Premiership in over a decade.
But three weeks ago, Sanderson’s men turned the tables on the Chiefs, winning their first match of 2024 in style, 41-5. A 79-point turnaround.
“We know how competitive the Premiership has been, uber competitive,” said Sanderson. “Any team that has not been quite on it mentally has suffered heavy defeats at the hands of their opponents, across the board, mainly, with the exception of Northampton. The league has been strengthened by a few sides going under and I think the quality of coaching has been as good as it’s been hence why there is so much jeopardy in what is probably the most fiercely competitive league at the moment. What an end to it!”
While Sale have had the last couple of weeks off, having been knocked out of Europe by Ospreys, Harlequins have marched into the Champions Cup semi-finals on the back of a remarkable 42-41 win away to Bordeaux-Begles.
Harlequins won with ease when Sale visited the Twickenham Stoop earlier in the season and also triumphed on their last trip to the north west and Sanderson is all too aware of the threats they bring.
“There are elements to their game that remain consistent and that’s the fast break, score from nothing, switch off and you die elements of the game, which they have always been good at and you have to be aware of,” he said.
“They have added to that these last two weeks; they have used the setpiece as a weapon, the scrum as a means to gain territory and dominance and the maul as a way to close games out, both weeks, which isn’t synonymous with the Quins teams of the past. They are multi-faceted and more dangerous than they have ever been.”
Arron Reed marks 100 Sharks appearances with a return to the starting XV, while Sam Dugdale replaces the injured Ernst van Rhyn (ankle) as Sanderson makes two changes to his side from the Premiership win against Exeter.
WillGriff John features on the replacements bench for the first time since re-signing for the club on a short-term deal and he’s joined by Raffi Quirke, who will make his 50th Sharks appearance.