Alex Sanderson says ‘still loads more to come’ from Sale after Saracens scalp
Alex Sanderson believes Sale Sharks still have not scratched the surface of their potential after a statement victory over Saracens.
Sale made it 12 home league wins on the bounce by beating their fellow high-flyers 22-20 at Salford Stadium thanks to tries from Agustin Creevy, Tom Roebuck and Luke Cowan-Dickie and seven points from the boot of George Ford.
The result saw Sanderson’s side take a four-point lead at the summit, heading into the weekend’s fixtures, but he believes there is a lot more still to come from his charges.
“There is a sense of relief, but I’m so happy the lads made good of their intentions against a really good Saracens side,” Sale’s director of rugby said.
“I suppose it makes Christmas that bit sweeter for us – we’ll all enjoy our Christmas morning now.
“We knew the magnitude of the game of course, and I was delighted with the way the players just revelled in their responsibilities.
“We’re still going well.
“Having said that, in terms of our performance I still think there’s loads more to come from us all. That’s really exciting, isn’t it?
“We still need to be better in all areas of the game because a game’s big moments turn on small hinges and we need to make sure we turn those big moments into our favour as much as we can, but we’ve not hit our straps yet.
“There’s a lot more in us yet I think, and that’s a great thing to be able to say at this stage of the season.”
Owen Farrell kicked 10 points for Saracens but tries from Ivan van Zyl and Gareth Simpson were only enough for the visitors to claim a losing bonus point.
It has been a tricky few weeks by the very high standards set by Mark McCall’s side, who have now lost successive Premiership games after going down at Northampton Saints earlier this month.
McCall said: “We knew it would be a difficult game away at a quality side like Sale.
“Having said that, I’m proud and pleased of the way we played throughout the 80 minutes.
“The players showed real energy and they kept fighting right until the end, and we almost clawed our way back to claim a victory.
“We’re not too far away, we’re getting there. We’ve got some really tough fixtures coming up, but also we’ve got a few players to come back into the reckoning over the next few weeks.
“We definitely aren’t feeling sorry for ourselves. That’s not the attitude I’m feeling.”
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Thanks for the lesson Nick! I presume that targeting gaps is situational because if a ball carrier straightens the line they can't be allowed a gap to run into? It feels like you need depth if you're going to pass it wide and plenty of variety - straight running, kicks just in behind, cross kicks etc. BTW what an incredible bench Toulouse had this week. People complain about Leinster being stacked but they need to be at the very highest level.
Go to comments2015 was by far the best team. They have had many good backlines over the years but the 2015 team was one of the few to have an absolute world class forward pack - all of them international quality. 6 ABs, 1 future English player, and one that would have gone on to ABs had he not been forced to retire due to concussion. This current team doesn’t have the same size and experience at lock, but providing they can keep this many talented young players (who have all significantly increased their profile this year) together for another 2 years they could eclipse the 2015 team.
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