Premiership: Alex Sanderson credits Sale’s attacking mentality for excellent form

Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson feels his team’s enthusiasm on attack has helped them to make their outstanding start to the 2022/23 Premiership campaign.

The Sharks continued their fine form when they sealed a 37-14 bonus-point victory over London Irish at the AJ Bell Stadium on Friday.

They outscored the visitors by five tries to two with Tom Roebuck leading the way with a brace while Dan du Preez, Joe Carpenter and Ewan Ashman also dotted down.

In pole position

That means they have won all five of their matches so far this season and are sitting pretty at the top of the Premiership table, although that situation could change if second-placed Saracens beat basement dwellers Bath with a bonus point in their clash on Saturday.

Sanderson believes he is now equipped with all the materials to build on last season’s sixth-placed finish.

“The defence has always been resolute and physical, but what they’re doing in attack nowadays, scoring 37 points is probably the big difference between this season and last,” he said after the win over London Irish.

“That’s what I’m talking about, the basics, you just have to convert when you’re five metres out, and the options were there. It’s a technical fix, it’s an easy fix.

“We were really mature in terms of some of the things that didn’t go our way. The team stuck to the task and they were playing in the right areas, used the conditions, it was a pretty cold and wet night out there.

“The kicks gave us those field positions and ultimately the points.

“Everyone works hard but seemingly things are clicking right now, the lads are talking about it, about being on the same page, not just socially and emotionally, but in terms of the game model and what they’re going after and it seems to flow a lot more and flow a lot better.”

Sale held an edge throughout but the Exiles scored two perfect counter-attacking tries to stay in the game.

Ollie Hassell-Collins reduced the deficit when he crossed the whitewash at 15-0 and Benhard Janse van Rensburg scored a try seven minutes after the Sharks’ third five-pointer.

But Roebuck soon crossed for his second score while Rob du Preez’s accurate goal-kicking and a fifth try from Ashman got the job done for the hosts.

Giving credit where it’s due

London Irish director of rugby Declan Kidney said: “We have to give credit to Sale, they came out with a good game, and unless you’re on your game with them, you’re going to get results like that.

“They probably won the gain line both in attack and defence and when you do that the game is always going to be that little bit more difficult for us and we need to look at that from our side, how we can change that, some decisions that we make.

“Most teams in this league get into a rich vein of form, they’re pretty much there at the moment. Once they got a foothold in the match, they had plenty to play for, so we just needed to put them under pressure in a few different aspects of the game.”

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