Diamond 'perturbed' despite quarter-final win

Sale Sharks director of rugby Steve Diamond was disappointed with his side's second-half display in a 20-10 victory over Connacht which saw them reach the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup.
The Sharks were excellent in the first half, touching down twice via Byron McGuigan and Denny Solomona before going into the interval 20-3 ahead.
Although the Irish province improved - scoring late on through Kyle Godwin - Sale had done enough to make it through to the last four where they will face either La Rochelle or Bristol.
Diamond said: "In the first half we controlled all the play and didn't make many mistakes but in the second half we came out and made a few errors early doors.
"Connacht got into their stride, which they didn't manage to do in the first half, and then it became a highly-competitive contest after that.
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"Against a side like Connacht, it's never going to be one-way traffic. We were fairly good in the first half and there were two equal teams in the second half."
Connacht had plenty of pressure after the interval but Sale were resilient in defence and Diamond was pleased with their defensive effort.
What frustrated the Sharks boss, however, was the team's inability to control territory because of needless errors.
"Our defence was pretty good all day - I thought they scored a good try - but I was more perturbed about us not finding field position like we did (in the) first half," he added.
"We went away from keeping Rohan Janse Van Rensburg in the game, who made their number 10's life misery in the first half. We seemed to lose that for some reason."
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With the Sharks in contention for both the Premiership and Challenge Cup, Diamond says that they will not prioritise one competition over the other.
"For us, we're going to have a crack at both," he added. "If we can get to a final within two years of Ged (Mason) and Simon (Orange) owning the club, we would be delighted.
"If we can get into the Champions Cup next year, we would be even more delighted - so we're going at it on all fronts."
Meanwhile, Connacht boss Andy Friend was disappointed with the amount of mistakes the visitors made, despite a battling display in the second period.
"With it 20-3 at half-time, we knew we had a fight on our hands in the second half," he said.
"I thought we did fight in the second half but in finals footy, you can't make that many errors and expect to win."
Friend also defended his team selection after making a number of changes and resting some first-choice individuals.
He added: "We've done that all year. We've picked on what we believe is form and we are trying to build a squad as well.
"Yes, it's about today but it's also a long game there where you've got to give players opportunities.
"You've got to challenge players and give them their chance. Some take it, some need a bit more time, so that's something we will assess, but we are building a squad."
PA
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I wouldn’t think the risk is cash flow, as they have large cash reserves they said all through covid.
I suspect the author has it completely wrong as it pertains to the pool as well, because I can’t see the contracts of players changing year to year like revenue does.
I’d imagine there is an agreed principle to a ‘forecast’ figure of revenue for a cyclical period, and this is what 37% or whatever of is used for player salaries. So it would not change whatever that figure is until the next cycle. Cash flow, as you said, would be the main factor, but as they aren’t paid all it once, they’d not be hindered in this manor I don’t believe. Of all the references I’ve seen of a the player pool agreement, not once have I seen any detail on how the amount is determined.
But yes, that would be a very reasoned look at the consequences, especially compared those I’ve seen in articles on this site. Even with turnonver north of $350 million a year, 20 is still a sizeable chunk. Like this RA’s broadcast deal, they might have smaller sponsorship for a short period to align with everything else, then look to develop the deal further heading into the Lions tour cycle? Perhaps trying to take a deal from low to high like that is unlikely to a long term investor, and NZR want to get a good shortterm deal now so they can capitalize on growth for the Lions (i’m assuming that series has consequences on more than just broadcast deals right).
Go to commentsAnd a few Australians too ……
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