'Charismatic, intelligent' reason why Saracens still treasure Alex

It’s now 22 months since Alex Sanderson flew the coop and quit his assistant’s role at Saracens to become a first-time director of rugby at Sale. It was at the London club where the now 43-year-old ex-England back-rower served his coaching apprenticeship, becoming a valued member of Mark McCall’s backroom staff which delivered multiple Premiership and European titles.

Sanderson may be long gone but he hasn’t been forgotten, though. He still keeps in regular contact with McCall, who this week explained it was no surprise to him that Sale are currently thriving under the baton of his old pal and that Sunday’s visit of the Sharks to the table-topping Saracens should be one to savour.

“Unsurprisingly he is doing a great job and that is clear for everyone to see,” said the long-serving Saracens DoR about Sanderson, who is nearing the second anniversary of his decision to swap London for Manchester and see if he could be successful in charge of Sale.

“Sale are going in a very clear direction and Al is really at the heart of that - we are delighted for him. He is hugely knowledgeable about the game, hugely enthusiastic, great communicator.

“That was one of the things that all the players at Saracens would say, just how well he communicates his ideas, whether that is in the meeting room or on the training field, so a very charismatic, intelligent communicator.”

Saracens were preparing for their one-off season in the Championship when Sanderson was named by Sale in January 2021 as the successor to the long-serving Steve Diamond. It meant that it wasn’t until last season that his path crossed with his old club, Sale losing 14-25 in London last November and then by 12-18 at the AJ Bell last April.

Sanderson has regularly spoken about how much help McCall has been as a sounding board in recent times but what are the friends like during the week leading up to Sale-Saracens natch? “The experience so far is that communication is very good until the week of the match and then it is not so good,” quipped McCall with a chuckle.