'They've got 14 Irish internationals and then the rest... an All Black and stuff'

Sale Sharks boss Alex Sanderson has sounded a defiant ‘we’re not going there to make up numbers’ message to Leinster ahead of this weekend’s Champions Cup clash at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium.

Sanderson says there is no greater challenge than going to Leinster, and his depleted side, missing the likes of the Curry twins, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Bevan Rodd, Raffi Quirke and Nathan Jibulu; have already been written off by the bookies.

Two major bookmakers have priced Leinster at 1-50, while another has the Sharks at 16-1 to go across the Irish Sea and book a place in the semi-finals, odds Sanderson ought to be having nightmares about.

But despite the odds being stacked against them, quite literally, Sanderson is up for the fight and will embrace the underdog tag, and being written off, before they have boarded the plane.

“You’ve got to be so good in all areas against these guys. They’ve got 14 Irish internationals in the team and then the rest, you know, there’s an All Black and stuff.

“There’s really no chinks in their armour. You’ve got to go there and you’ve got to be prepared to score 30 points. You have to, because you know they’re going to score that many.

“You can’t afford to make too many mistakes and give them too many entries because they’re too dangerous, and you’ve got to take your opportunities because they don’t give you that many. It’s an international-intensity Test match in all but name.

“There is no bigger challenge. There’s no more successful team other than Toulouse. We’re well aware of that, and I’m not the kind of team to back down from a challenge or just turn up and be part of their party.

“That’s not our mentality this weekend. Take a bit of Manchester on the road. We’ve broken the odds before. We were sat here last year, and the supercomputer was giving us a 9 per cent chance of getting to the semi-finals, and we got there.

“This is a team that rises to challenges, that finds the best of itself when the back’s against the wall. We understand we’re going there as underdogs and we carry that mantle, but we’re not going there to make up numbers.

“We will have a proper dig, and you’ve got to. You’ve got to back yourself, and you’ve got to do it for 80 minutes. They score most of the points in the last quarter, so you’ve got to do it for 80 minutes,” he said.