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Alex Sanderson credits George Ford for raising 'standards' after Sale win
Alex Sanderson lauded the impact of the returning George Ford as Sale Sharks secured their third win of the season with a 24-10 success over Gloucester.
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Fly-half Ford returned to the side following the Rugby World Cup and helped Sharks to move top of the table with a bonus-point win at the Salford Community Stadium.
That was despite kicking difficulties in wet and windy conditions, with coach Sanderson delighted by his all-round performance.
“It’s not just what he brings in the game, it’s what he brings in the week,” said Sanderson. “He has raised standards, with an increase in energy and an increase in small talk away from the training ground.
“His ability to shift the point of attack, and again his consistent ability to drive energy. He is the first person to go around back slapping, even when things are going wrong.
“It is a really important trait to have as a leader.”
Arron Reed scored twice in the first half to give Sharks a 12-3 lead, wiping out George Barton’s early penalty.
Match Summary 
0
Penalty Goals
1
4
Tries
1
2
Conversions
1
0
Drop Goals
0
123
Carries
78
3
Line Breaks
4
10
Turnovers Lost
13
6
Turnovers Won
3
Ben Curry and Agustin Creevy then scored to seal the points, with Freddie Thomas’ try three minutes from time nothing more than a consolation for Gloucester.
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“We won a lot of the little scraps, crumbs and that generally comes down to an intensity that you are playing with,” said Sanderson.
“Gloucester’s defensive shape was brilliant, the way we maintained the ball and kept quick ball well. That is what we have been working on in terms of our attack, so there was growth there that wasn’t there last week. I want to keep that going.
“Reed was exceptional tonight on that wing, not many would score the tries that he did because of the turn of pace and the gas he has.”
Gloucester rested their international stars, and with star signing Zach Mercer also ruled out, their inexperience showed.
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But boss George Skivington was pleased with the endeavour shown by his young side, despite a second successive defeat which leaves them under growing pressure ahead of a crunch home fixture with pace-setters Bath next Friday.
“I’ve made no secret that we want to get some of these young players the experience, they are going to be really good players,” he said. “They are very good players; if they don’t play, they will never be in the position to be those gnarly experienced players.
“I thought the game management was pretty good, we got ourselves in good positions.
“I thought George (Barton) did a good job, but when we pulled the trigger there’s a couple of simple tries we left out there and a little bit of accuracy out there in some areas.
“We’ve got to be honest about it which we will, but there was some good experience gained for some young lads.”
Comments on RugbyPass
What ifs are always dangerous. If you look at the game before Sam cane got sent of SA was dominating. You could make the argument the going down to 14 men rallied the troops and made them have to play to win which is always dangerous.
128 Go to commentsOmg… you are bruised And battered Benny. Stop crying … the scoreboard speaks. What a pathetic lover you are.. 🤣🤣🤣
128 Go to commentsPacific Lions, cry me a river
128 Go to commentsThis is the single worst piece of journalism I have ever seen since your last one. As a neutral, who really states that there should be an asterisk next to a win? You are an utter embarrassment to real AB fans, journalism and that joke of a house which pays you for this nonsense. Get a life, Ben.
128 Go to commentsGuys. Cancel the World Cup champions after this analysis. It changes everything. Ben knows. We’ll have to unengrave the Bokke off the trophy and hand it to the ABs, now that I’ve been enlightened about this illegitimate win. This needs to be done. Now!
128 Go to commentsBen is right here though, Springboks were woefully poor with the advantage they had throughout this game. The France match was heroic because that was an even contest this match had it taken place in Rugby Championship would have been an easy win for NZ. If anything this match should tell the Bok coaches that a lot of this team should be changed. They beat this same NZ team by record margin with the same circumstances but with a different core. They bring back the tried and tested guys and they nearly botch this game.
128 Go to commentsI knew who wrote this article from the first few words in the headline…lol. The red card actually did the ABs a favour. It galvanized them, only then did they step up a gear. Before that there was zero momentum.
128 Go to commentsFirstly the foul on Bongi was a planned move just like the NZ master plan with Bryce Lawrence you kiwis are filthy fux perhaps try to play a cleaner game next time I doubt that’s possible tho but don’t worry world rugby is on yr side they trying to take away all the BOKS strengths to help all you weakling as Jeremy Clarkson would say LA OO ZA ERR..🤣
128 Go to commentsAbsolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
128 Go to commentsHo hum.
128 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
128 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
128 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
128 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
1 Go to commentsGotta love it when kids throw their toys out the pram and can’t hack it with the grown ups debate. Here’s looking at you turlough! 😉🤣
148 Go to commentsThey lost the game period move on
128 Go to commentsSpringboks won! Stop winging. You can change the game however much you and your rugby colonizing IRB want to and the Springboks will win you at that too. Your mind is colonized my friend get a life
128 Go to commentsBen, nobody gets fooled anymore by selective and biased data to support an hypothesis. Games are decided on such small margins these days that you win some and lose some, and dominance is a thing of the rugby past. Look at the RWC circle of fortune…. Ireland beats SA who beat France who beat NZ who beat Ireland. And so it goes on. Match officials help to eliminate real indiscretions. If they had been with us years before, no doubt results would have been different. Remember Andy Haden’s dive from a lineout in 1978 for which a match-wining penalty was awarded? Wales should have beaten the ABs that day. They took the loss like the gentlemen they were.
128 Go to commentsWith all the analysis and how good the all blacks were.The fundamental mistake with the ABs is that this is a test match and not an exhibition.There is no better team(country) in world rugby than the Boks that knows how to win a test match(we are post masters at this).We know our rules, we have the discipline, we tackle like beasts, we take our points and we never give up.I now have educated the ABs supporters(at least say thank you).Please stop “bitching” , accept what the outcome is and move along swiftly.
128 Go to comments