I'll look at each team in reverse finishing order, looking at what went well, what didn't, stand out players and areas for improvement for the coming season:
Sale Sharks
Final Position: 10th
| ||||||
P: 22
|
W: 7
|
L: 14
|
D: 1
|
F: 377
|
A: 596
|
Pts: 35
|
Plus Marks:
Hmm. Much like Worcester before, the only real plus mark for this season for the Sharks is that they managed to turn their season around and secure another season in the Premiership. Unlike Worcester however, who knew that a relegation scrap was always on the cards, Sale were a club coming off a season where they had looked a force on the rise and secured themselves 6th Place and Heineken Cup Rugby.
As mentioned, they made a brief return to the Europe's top table, although the less said about that the better - a Danny Cipriani inspired 34-33 comeback win against Cardiff was the only plus point in their entire campaign.
They have, at times, been able to produce some good looking rugby - when they decide Cipriani is worth selecting and he decides it's worth putting on a show, they do have the ability to shine as a back line. but 30 minutes every couple of games does not cut mustard in the top level of rugby.
Although managerial instability does not usually find its way into the credit column, Sale's woes this year have meant that Steve Diamond, despite his many, baffling efforts to the contrary, has found himself back in the DOR jacket again. Diamond is Mr Sale, he is passionate, embodies the club and seems to have an almost creepily revered position within it. The players clearly want to play for him when he is at the helm - Sale's late season form shows this and hopefully he will realise that no matter the quality of DOR he attempts to bring in, they won't work whilst he is still at the club, even if in a directorial capacity.
Sale did make the final of the LV Trophy, but did so by fielding close to full strength teams in an attempt to remind them what winning games felt like, when the tendency of the majority of other clubs is to blood youngsters, so this success must be treated with a pinch of salt.
Detentions:
Well, where to start?! The lowlight reel could kick off with the fact that Sale lost 7 out of their first 7 games, or we could move it along to their frankly dismal showing in the Heineken (the lowest of this particular low being a 62-0 annihilation away to the freshly crowned champions Toulon). But European rugby is little more than a welcome distraction compared to the bread and butter of keeping yourself in the Premiership.There has been something a little short of a soap opera in the management of the club - Bryan Redpath coming to club in controversial circumstances to be the new DOR before being humiliatingly and publicly demoted to head coach after Sale's abysmal start, added to the John Mitchell fiasco meant that they eventually ended up exactly where they seem to need to be, with Steve Diamond once again becoming DOR.
Diamond himself has claimed that Sale "had a top-six performance in the second half of the season and a bottom six in the first half", but this somewhat understates how close Sale were to being relegated - even with their form improving after Christmas, it was not until London Welsh were deducted 5 points that Sale moved above them in the table.
On the field, things weren't much better. Inconsistent selection did not help matters any, and their haul of 377 points scored was comfortably the lowest in the division, helping them to claim the worst points difference in the process.
A glance at the bonus points column is a worrying read too; only twice in the season did they score 4 tries in a match and three losing bonus points collected tells a tale of a team with a tendency to roll over when they sense they are beaten. In fact, when you work out the averages for games they lost, they were beaten on average by just over 19 points, including 3 defeats by 30+ points (Prem only - this does not count their Heineken beastings).
Head Boy:
In a squad with names like Cipriani, Grey and Powell scattered through it there have been a couple of younger players who have used the attention and column inches their more illustrious colleagues demand as an effective shield behind which they can come to the fore and offer promise for the future of rugby in the North-West.
One such player has been hooker Tommy Taylor. Regularly forming one of the youngest front rows going when teamed up with Henry Thomas and Ross Harrison (the total age of the three is less than the combined ages of George Chuter and Castro at Leicester), Taylor has grown in stature as the season has moved along, impressing with a good lineout delivery and fitting the emerging pattern of Hookers as the 4th back rower. If Sale can keep this emergent unit together and developing as they have done this season, It can only benefit them moving forward.
Predicted Grades Next Year:
This is my first 'must do better' of the report writing season. Everyone at Sale will be wanting to write this season off, forget about it and move on as quickly as possible, but there are certain lessons that they must take forward.First and most importantly, Steve Diamond has to remain as DOR, and not just because of the need for stability moving forward - he's bloody good at it!
The recruitment policy seems already to be more encouraging, with the likes of Andy Powell and Richie Grey, their marquee signings of 12 months ago being allowed to move on after exasperating seasons from the both. With a tip of the hat to their doomed relegation rivals London Welsh, they have kept 3 of their players in the top flight for next year, and the recent announcement that Joe Ford will be joining is another good, but lower profile, acquisition.
Their tendency to roll over and die needs addressing, and this really is done up front, where instead of star power, Sale have gone for grit and work rate, bringing Charlie Walker Blair in from Jersey, Michael Paterson from Cardiff and the Russian Kulemin from Welsh.
Sale will have to eventually face the question that so far Wasps and the Melbourne Rebels have answered no to - is Danny Cipriani, on balance, worth sticking with? the signing of Ford hints that at least long term, they already know the answer. In the short term, he might needs some road safety awareness classes!
No comments:
Post a Comment