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'I've made big f*** ups in life... things you kick yourself over'

(Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images for Sale Sharks)

Sale boss Alex Sanderson has admitted it has been difficult to see his team suffer from late missed kicks in recent Gallagher Premiership matches but rather than hang rookie out-half Tom Curtis out to dry, the Sharks staff have rallied around the 20-year-old in an attempt to bulletproof him for any future high-pressure end-game moments.

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Curtis was bumped up the squad pecking order in October due to injuries and has been providing bench cover to another rookie half-back, the 22-year-old Kieran Wilkinson, who started the season coming off the bench to kick the match-winning round one penalty in the win over Bath.

Wilkinson has gone on to wear the starting No10 shirt in the recent games versus Gloucester, Harlequins and Leicester, with Curtis providing support from the bench. The sub held his nerve in the middle match against the defending champions, putting Sale into a 76th minute lead with a penalty before Raffi Quirke’s win-sealing try.

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However, his other two outings ended with missed kicks from the tee. Curtis was off target with a clock-in-the-red conversion that would have beaten Gloucester and he was also errant with last Saturday’s final kick of the match at Leicester, the missed conversion costing Sale a losing bonus point.

What has been the reaction at Sale to the points-costing inaccuracy? “I have made loads of mistakes, I have made some big f*** ups in my life and that is the same anywhere, things that you could have done differently, things that you kick yourself over,” said Sanderson to RugbyPass.

“But in the end, it is like anyone who makes a mistake, it’s not about telling them how to do it better because I couldn’t. It is about making them understand that you are there for them, that you support them, that you still back them, you still trust them and he [Curtis] is going to have his time again. The result of that Leicester game, the fact that we didn’t get a point wasn’t down to that last kick. It hinged on it but it wasn’t down to it and I said that in the circle on the field, I let him and everyone else know just that.

“He came back in on Sunday and kicked for about three hours,” added Sanderson about the reaction of Curtis to his second last-gasp missed Sale kick in three outings. “That is the kind of what you want. It is, ‘You are backing me, I am backing myself to be better’. That was his response. What a bloke to come in and then just crack on with it.

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“We are going to help him. We had a conversation, are we doing everything with these young lads that we can possibly do to put them in the best headspace? I have seen him kick those day in day out from further, from wider. He has got it in him. His dad was a footballer and he strikes the ball beautifully but something psychologically, as you would expect in the cauldron that it was, affected him.

“We have got a who works with Man United academy who has done some stuff with our penalty takers, so we are going to help him out and get some extra tuition on the back of what we are already giving him to see if we can fast-track the mental approach to it as well as the physical because he is doing all the work, but it’s the top two inches.”

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Mzilikazi 2 hours ago
Western Force and ACT Brumbies looking for signs of progress in Super Rugby Pacific

It’s good to be at the start of the season, to be tipping the games again. Thanks for the article Brett. An interesting and, for me, informative read, as I have not kept up with all the news of all the teams, really only Qld.


Whatever happens in the search for a new coach for the WB’s, all of Les Kiss, Stephen Larkham and Dan McKellar will be coaching their respective teams this year. I believe Kiss to be the best of the three, and by a significant margin(the bad result against the Chiefs in the playoffs last season the one scar), and that gives Qld., in my view, an extra edge.


I agree, Brett, that Qld. on paper, and on squad strength and experience, look the best bet for Australia. If Tim Ryan builds on last year, he could be a WB starter against the Lions. The locking strength and depth is approaching that of teams like Leinster, Toulouse etc…not as strong ofc, but in Super Rugby circles, yes.


I like the type of game Kiss is building. Really carrying on from where he was rudely interrupted at London Irish, when they fell over. The one game on tour where they beat Ulster was a significant pointer to where they are at. While not a top Ulster unit, it was still a very good team, not easy to beat in Belfast. Sadly the Bristol game was a training run, but still valuable in a way, as the group were touring, building systems and understanding.


One player I will be watching with interest is Finn Hurley at the Highlanders. He was brought to my attention a year ago by the grandson of a friend, who knew him at Otago Boys High in Dunedin. Small, but resilient, with a good boot, from what I have seen on clips, he should have a useful first full year as a Highlander.


Hope the Force do well… have always had a “soft spot” for them. But good luck to all franchises, and pray for no serious injuries….as I have done forever, as aplayer, then coach, and now long retired rugby fanatic 😀

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J
Jfp123 4 hours ago
New twist sees Romain Ntamack's Six Nations ban extended

I’m still not convinced. I think everyone should be punished equally for similar actions, rather than differentiating punishment on the basis of speculative psychological analysis. I still think accusations are based more on the mindset of the accuser than the accused. As mentioned, I can’t possibly say why Ntamack committed foul play and you may be right, but that’s not the only possible explanation. Have you never lost concentration when work’s a walkover and your best efforts aren’t needed. We know very little about Ntamack, perhaps major upheavals off the pitch were on his mind, eg maybe worried about the baby. Or how about turning your speculation in the opposite direction? Some pundits mentioned there were afters to the tackle, which presumably indicate the Welsh player had lost his temper. Were those afters delivered silently, or were they accompanied by words? Could he have said something insulting about Ntamack’s mixed heritage, or family, or something else that lit the blue touch paper? I don’t suppose he was complimenting him on his hair! No provocation justifies dangerous play, whether an HIA examination is required or not, and Ntamack deserved his red card and punishment. But if this is what happened, would you call both players’ losses of temper ‘malicious’? After all, Ntamack has taken thousands of big hits over his career without retaliating. The foul was out of character, so should it be explained away by afters to the tackle that were malicious? No one landed a punch, but are all punches malicious, whatever the provocation? Now both this scenario and yours take actions which actually happened, and then progress to pure speculation about the unknown. There are other possibilities too. I’m certainly not saying any of the possibilities discussed are what happened and I don’t presume to know what the players were thinking at the time. If you want to make a case for punishing all players who get a red card, in a similar way with similar outcomes, for longer, that would be fair enough. But I don’t think it’s fair to call for special punishment for a particular player based on speculation.

7 Go to comments
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