The 'wasted up there' reason Alex Sanderson backs his sideline view

TNT Sports lapped up the shots they had of Alex Sanderson during last Sunday’s live TV coverage of Sale’s win over Harlequins. The reason was simple: The Sharks director of rugby always makes a point of watching his team’s matches from the sideline.

This is in sharp contrast to his contemporaries across the league who prefer to watch from high up in the stands surrounded by a plethora of assistants and a multitude of computers relaying footage of the on-pitch action and a myriad of in-game statistics.

Sanderson’s vantage point preference is a football-style approach to going about his business. Yes, it makes him more photogenic as the sideline camera can better capture his emotions compared to another director of rugby watching from on high in a more confined space.

Looking sharp on the telly, though, has nothing to do with why the Sale boss prefers being so close to the action. It was originally where he used to watch games when working as an assistant at Saracens and he has kept up this sideline habit since taking over at the Sharks in 2021.

Why is his so resistant to taking up a seat in the stand like so many of his director of rugby rivals? “I don’t think you can see anything from a computer that immediately enables you to get a message on to the field, it’s just not possible,” he explained to RugbyPass ahead of this weekend’s trip to his old Saracens stomping ground in London.

“Or, 'I’ll have a look at that, I’ll see it again' – by the time the messages come on it has probably changed, so it is only time and energy wasted up there. That’s one reason.

“I get a feel on the touchline of energy and physicality in real time and I know I can make my voice heard. On occasion I can shout to a player, even if it is a point of encouragement just so that they can hear and feel me from the touchline. I feel a connection there.

“And perhaps the most important thing is when someone comes off, regardless of how they play, I can shake their hand, I can give them a cuddle. They are never going to learn a lesson in the moment if they need to, they just need to know that they made you proud to a degree.

“I’m not trying to be cringey with this at all. It is just a handshake and a thank you at the start and then when I send someone on, I can have a word in their ear and I know that message is going on.

“That is a more productive use of my time than poring over the game which I am going to do anyway, two times, three times over the day after.”

Sanderson is just as up close and personal on the Sale training ground in Manchester, but it painfully got him into some bother on Wednesday when one of his players clattered into him during a session. Appearing later at his regular midweek media briefing, the Sharks boss chuckled: “If I have to catch my breath every now and again, I got hit from behind by Tommy Roebuck.

"Blindsided. Not on purpose, so he says. But I reckon I have cracked a rib, so I couldn’t shout for the rest of the session and the boys were really happy about that. I’m well in my mentality but my old bones are creaking.”