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Alex Sanderson's early impression of Waisea Nayacalevu at Sale
By Liam Heagney
Alex Sanderson has given his initial verdict on new Sale recruit Waisea Nayacalevu, the Fijian midfielder who was signed as a replacement for Manu Tuilagi. It was March 19, just days after winning his 60th Test cap in England’s Guinness Six Nations clash away to France, when the Sharks confirmed that Tuilagi would be leaving at the end of the 2023/24 season.
The 33-year-old, who moved to Manchester from Leicester in the summer of 2020, has since linked up with Bayonne in the Top 14 and the Sale vacancy has been filled by Nayacalevu, the 34-year Fiji Rugby World Cup captain who decided to exit Toulon for a spin in the Gallagher Premiership.
Sale’s new league campaign will begin with this Sunday’s visit by Harlequins to Salford and Nayacalevu has put himself in line for a competitive debut with a busy pre-season that included warm-up appearances versus Connacht and Newcastle in recent weeks.
Director of rugby Sanderson has now shared his thoughts on how Nayacalevu has settled into his new surroundings. “I miss Manu, miss him for so many reasons. But Waisea brings something different. He can tank it but he has got an outside break as well.
“He has got that relaxed demeanour and character that brings young kids on and lightens the huddles that sometimes can get a bit too intense. He has that about him. Manu had it; he [Nayacalevu] has just brought a different edge to us having had Manu for so long.
“A different attacking edge that has given us energy that we have seen out there and we saw a bit of it against Newcastle, a different type of intent. You give him the ball, he is not looking for back field space… he is looking for the outside break and the offload and freeing up his arms and he loves attacking rugby.
“I keep turning around and the lads are like, ‘How did we sign him, how did we get him?’ You think he would be still cashing in in France or be going where the sun shines, but maybe he has come north to bring some sunshine with him. Maybe he wanted an adventure.
“He is living right in the centre of town, so he seems like he is enjoying himself. We go for a walk every other week; he would tell me if he wasn’t (enjoying it). At the moment, it’s pretty good.”
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Latest Comments
Yeah they're away of it too. It was brought up in one of the Italian focused articles. They are performing now and trying to move out of that 'being in awe' type attitude.
Very easy to say we're good enough to put all our focus on wining this last big game of the year (this one) though, you also need to be consistent and still perform in the other games (slip up against Georgia) and not get ahead of yourself. Not think you're too good for teams like Argentina and Georgia just because theres a shift in attitude towards thinking 'were good enough to beat anybody now'. Hope they go forward from here but I think this performance is still only good enough to keep them off wooden spoon 6N position (keep them well away from the bottom mind you).
Go to commentsYeah I predicted (out of thin air) it to be more like 30 points between them. You don't think it wasn't more like that because they picked jaded players?
Will have a look at the game now I guess.
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