'Don't mention a word': Sanderson silent on Sale speculation

Sale boss Alex Sanderson has refused to give anything away regarding his club’s big contract news reveal which is scheduled for this Wednesday. The Sharks teased their fans on Tuesday with a social media post that read: “When you hear the signing news we have got in the pipeline for this week!”

Sanderson held his regular weekly media briefing later on Tuesday ahead of this Friday night’s Gallagher Premiership game at home to London Irish, but the normally talkative coach managed not to give anything away about exactly what the signing news concerns - be it a possible contract extension for someone like Manu Tuilagi beyond the end of the current season, or new arrivals from stricken Worcester or perhaps something entirely different.

Asked was it was a deal regarding a new signing for next season, the renewal of an existing contract or an immediate impact deal, Sanderson said: “Whatever I say you are going to be able to read between the lines. I have been told to straight bat this one so you are going to have to guess.”

Those at the briefing did, the follow-up question to Sanderson specifically asking if it was a player contract renewal at Sale. “Like I say you are going to have to guess. I normally give you everything but this is the one stipulation when I went upstairs, they were like ‘Don’t mention a word, Radio Sanderson’ which I am. This is the one time I am going to behave myself.

“It is Wednesday when they are releasing the news. It’s good news. It’s positive, it’s encouraging, it’s good news, it’s a big statement.”

The Sale social post came with the tagline of #MoreThanJustARugbyClub. Asked to explain what this actually meant to him, Sanderson said: “You have to be more than a club if you aspire to good things, to leave legacies behind, there has to be more to what teams and clubs do. We are building a bit of a family here, we feel that. We are very tight at the moment and long may that continue.

“It is easy for us to be that way with the response we are getting (with an unbeaten start to the campaign) and therein lies the challenge for me in the middle of the season to be just as tight and just as together as we are now."