'Big future': Sale reveal huge body transformation for 6 foot 9 league convert Bamber

Sale Sharks boss Alex Sanderson believes towering lock Ben Bamber, who put on 8kg after pre-season and shaved 50 seconds off his fitness test, is an untapped talent with a big future at PREM and Test level.

Bamber, 6ft 9in and nearly 20st, started in rugby league with Huddersfield Giants, and with veteran Josh Beaumont having retired, the Sharks need a new lineout kingpin to deliver the set-piece ball their talented backs, under the control of George Ford, can turn into match-winning scores.

Bamber began his union career with Bristol Bears but shoulder injuries hampered his progress. He got his chance with Sharks in 2022 and also made an impact playing for Sale RFC. England have already noted his talents, selecting him for the A team fixture against Portugal in 2024 and Sanderson is excited about the improvements that can still be made to his game.

Sanderson said: “Ben has a big future and we knew we had to bring him out of his shell by calling the lineout.

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Gallagher Premiership

Bath

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“He is a great operator around the park and has probably played at most 60 games of rugby union being a league convert. He had to learn the skill of jumping, scrummaging and mauling and how to run that lineout department over the summer. He has shown himself to be very rugby smart for someone who doesn’t write a lot of things down. Now, he walks around with a pencil behind his ear! He has a composure about him with a no nonsense attitude and is able to spot where the holes in the lineout appear. That was one of the most rewarding things in the win over Gloucester.

“We had a 100 per cent lineout success and he is untapped, although we have tapped him a little bit and he put on 8kg after pre-season and shaved 50 seconds off his fitness test. Allied to that, he is still learning the game so his rugby age is far younger than his actual age because he came into it late. Who knows where he could be in a couple of years because he is a six or tighthead lock like George Martin (Leicester Tigers) who have high work rate and defensively dominate mauls at the front of the lineout and now he can move further back in the lineout with the same work rate and physicality and call the targets.

Sale claimed a try bonus point in the 27-10 win over Gloucester and now head to champions Bath desperate to build on that victory. Bonus point collection is an area that Sanderson wants to see improved with the team only generating 10 last season despite finishing third. Bristol collected 18 bonus points – for scoring four tries or being within seven points in defeat – while Bath amassed 16, leaving Sale trailing a long way behind.

Sale’s bonus points all came from tries last season and Sanderson admitted: “We made hard work for ourselves (last season) and it’s part of game we want to improve upon and there were signs against Gloucester with the ambition we showed.

“The bonus points do add up and we are looking to see that the players pull the trigger at the right time and be a little bit less pragmatic. It felt against Gloucester that for the most part we got the balance right.”