1
'He's world-class as it is right now but he's still progressing... there's certainly more to come from him'
By PA
Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson hailed the “world-class” qualities of South Africa scrum-half Faf De Klerk following his side’s victory over Newcastle – and warned there is still more to come from the World Cup winner.
The Sharks, for the time being at least, moved up to second position in the Gallagher Premiership as tries from Marland Yarde, Lood De Jager and Simon Hammersley helped them to a 31-16 victory.
De Klerk was instrumental in the triumph, setting up the first score with a bullet pass and overall producing an excellent display.
“Faf was superb again wasn’t he? He’s world-class as it is right now but he’s still progressing in the game. We can still get quicker ball to him though,” Sanderson said.
“If we can get some X-factor like Manu Tuilagi or Rohan Janse Van Rensburg in there, they get you quick ball. That’s when you’re super dangerous isn’t it? We’ll see where he goes from there.
“At the moment, though, he’s getting a better platform from the forwards with the maul and the scrum. But there’s certainly more to come from him.”
Sanderson also praised the Sharks defence as they conceded just one try against the Falcons despite being under plenty of pressure in the second half.
He added: “It’s not just in the system, it’s in the mentality, which is what it essentially comes down to.
“We thought we lacked a little bit of intensity post the Bristol game for a couple of weeks and we’ve been trying to get back there. I thought we had it last week (against Exeter) and we saw it tonight in spades.
“Line speed and collisions, it was all there.”
Newcastle boss Dean Richards was left frustrated as they were unable to build on their impressive result against Harlequins last weekend.
“There were chances all over the place in the last 15 minutes,” Richards said. “If we could have taken them, it could have been closer.
“They’re a good side. They’re reasonably well drilled but I thought they got lucky with a few of those scrum penalties. But that’s not the reason we lost.”
One positive for Newcastle was Joel Matavesi’s try-scoring Premiership debut, but it was of little consolation to Richards following the loss.
He added: “We pride ourselves in producing players from our academy and long may that continue, but we’re here to celebrate wins. Overall, as a team, we weren’t as good as we could have been.”
Trending on RugbyPass
2
All Blacks XV player ratings vs Munster
3
Suaalii strikes awe as Wallabies lose midfielder
4
Scott Robertson responds about handling errors
5
Latest Comments
Were you shocked by Sexton trying to rip Barrett's head off when he scored that final try in that return game?
Sexton once again the beneficiary of incredible double standards. Some of the rules simply didn't apply to him. The referee even watched that replay about 5 times in slow motion to see if he grounded the ball. If an NZ player had made that tackle it would have been a yellow card.
Ireland led by Sexton were the biggest bunch of whingers to ever play the game. NZ's dislike of Ireland was not caused by losing to them, it was caused by the Irish players, commentators and media being such giant crybabies.
I genuinely think Ireland are the best team in the world, and I think they will beat the ABs on Friday, but they are by some distance the team I like the least, and I know many people, not just from NZ, who feel the same.
Go to commentsThanks for the analysis Nick, thought provoking as usual. Couple of queries though, in the pic where you've circled Williams bind , I'm pretty sure it shows Stuart's knee on the ground, surely that's a NZ penalty? Also having had the chance to watch it again the All Black scrum seeems to improve after halftime, but before either England or the All Blacks replace their props. Not sure if that was the result of Tuipolutu coming on or some halftime tips. Either way this is only Williams second international season, so he'll be better for the experience.
Go to comments