Alex Sanderson: 'Judge us on competitiveness, great resilience'
Alex Sanderson was halfway through a creamy pint of the black stuff when he stepped outside a loud music marquee at the RDS to give his hot take to RugbyPass on a Saturday night tale of two halves for Sale in Dublin.
The Sharks were bitingly competitive in an opening period that they led 13-3 for a stretch; then came the second wave where they were beached by Leinster, falling 37-13 behind before rallying with two converted tries in the closing 90 seconds to leave just 10 points the margin.
This reduced full-time gap enabled the director of rugby to talk with the bounce of someone satisfied that his glass was half full, which it literally was when he placed it on some sort of wiring box at the back of the aged main stand near where the beery post-match Leinster fans party was in full swing in the paddock ring and an old shed.
You would have got long odds pre-game on the notion of Sale threatening a surprise against an Irish outfit that had opened its Champions Cup campaign last weekend with a superb win at La Rochelle and were unbeaten in the URC since the opening round in October.
The Gallagher Premiership leaders had gambled in making 11 changes to the XV that defeated Stade Francais six days earlier at home, giving the talisman likes of George Ford and Manu Tuilagi an evening off with a view to them being hale and hearty for next Friday’s arrival of Saracens at the AJ Bell.
However, rather than this selection gambit being the prompt for an immediate away day capitulation, Sanderson’s much rejigged Sale outfit instead had the chutzpah to deservedly lead Leinster for a full 36 minutes – initially for 11 and then a chunkier 25 – and it wasn’t until a brutal five-minute spell either side of the hour mark, during which arrears of just 13-16 widened to 13-30, that the ambush was put firmly beyond their grasp.
“Proud of how they went at Leinster despite the doubters,” enthused Sanderson, his Guinness going down swimmingly while reflecting on a contest that bristled and hung in the balance until a needless penalty concession from second-half sub Jonny Hill for acting the maggot on the prone Josh van der Flier swung possession and territory Leinster’s way at a crucial stage after the hosts had taken the lead for the first time with a Jamison Gibson-Park try following a missed Tom Roebuck tackle.
“We really attacked them, I thought we rattled them in that first half. We said to them at half-time it was probably only us in here who thought that could happen. We gave ourselves a five-minute focus for the second half and we conceded that try, let them in at that point.
“We gave them too much possession in the second half, too much territory. A 1,000-cap international side, which they are, they are going to score points. We came back again (at the end), which shows the resilience of the group. Although a lot of professional sport is about winning and losing, it does feel was can take an edge, a momentum from that into the Premiership and Saracens next week.”
In no way was Sanderson regretful about not going in fully locked and loaded in Dublin. “We could have done something special tonight with that group. The kick in front of the sticks, we went to the corner, got it turned over. That brings it within seven, and held up over the line on a driving maul – then the score is even, and these are just opportunities that we missed, not the ones that we gave to Leinster.
“I would say in hindsight we could have done it with that group. Now we are going back into the Premiership with a fresh group. We managed to rest everyone in the group over the last two weeks and took some stick this week, but over the last two weeks, we have managed to rejuvenate a squad that was hanging in there after eight games in the Premiership, so in the bigger picture I’m quite happy where we are at this point of time.
“We were dominated in a lot of areas. Certainly, the momentum in that second half went away from us. But if you were to judge us on competitiveness, great resilience, just not giving an inch in the game, these are intangible things and I think we went toe to toe with a 1,000-cap side so for that, I am very grateful.
“The rest we can build, the rest we can coach. Certainly, in terms of experience, there is a lot of growth in that side, a bit more growth than what they [Leinster] have got in theirs so I’m encouraged by that as well.”
The video nasty review for Sale on Monday morning, though, will be their penalty-leaking scrum, a nightmare of a first half for James Harper that culminated in his sin-binning near the interval. It was a numerical advantage that Leinster swiftly took advantage of to go in at the break trailing by just two points instead of a more worrying seven.
“The scrum was an important factor, it was a momentum swinger really,” admitted Sanderson. “Asher (Opoku-Fordjour) came on and just sorted that out brilliantly as he does as a 19-year-old. It’s certainly not to the standards where we were the last couple of weeks.
“We will have a look at that. In games like that, every little mistake is preyed upon and the cost is greater than in your average Premiership game. Our set-piece is something we will have to get up to scratch again.”
Comments on RugbyPass
I am really looking forward to Leigh Halfpenny playing his first Super rugby game for the Crusaders Playing a long side his former Welsh and Scarlets team mate Johnny McNicoll.Johnny has been playing great, back in a Crusaders jersey.The attack has strengthened big time. Also looking forward to David Havili at 10. David is a class act, it also allows Dallas McLeod to remain at 12. A good thing.
1 Go to commentsIf he had stopped insisting on playing in the backrow, instead of wing, where everyone told him he should, he would have been a Bok years ago….
11 Go to comments‘Salads don’t win scrums’ 😂 I love that.
19 Go to commentsCan’t wait for the article that talks about misogyny in Ireland. Somehow.
16 Go to commentsI would like to see a rule change, when the attacking team is held up over the try line, by allowing the defensive team to restart a goal line drop out releases the pressure for the defensive team, but what if the attacking team had to restart a tap 5m out from the defensive team it gives the attacking team to apply more pressure, there are endless options for the attacking side and it will keep the fans in suspence.
2 Go to commentsLess modern South African males predictably triggered.
16 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
81 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
2 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
5 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real people. They claim free speech. Free speech for anonymous trolls/voilent thugs threatening people under false names? The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
2 Go to comments