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Sale Sharks have a seriously tasty backline for the 2018/19 season
They may not have bagged Israel Folau, but Sale Sharks’ backline for the 2018/19 is more than capable of turning the head of any Premiership fan.
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Yesterday Sale Sharks’ Director of Rugby Steve Diamond confirmed the signing of Chris Ashton from Toulon, completing arguably the tastiest backline in the tournament.
For Diamond keeping the back three ‘exciting’ is clearly high on his list of priorities. “When we were looking around, following the announcement of the return of Rohan Janse van Rensburg, we wanted to keep the make-up of our Back Three as exciting as we can,” stated the DoR upon the confirmation of Ashton’s signing.
It can be safely be said that Diamond has his achieved his objective.
Continue reading below…
9 Faf de Klerk
The terrier-like number nine was arguably the best in his position in his inaugural year in the Premiership, and he only went and backed it up against England in South Africa this June. Incredible skill, heart and toughness.
10 AJ MacGinty
No longer flying under rugby’s radar, US Eagle AJ MacGinty is officially the most accurate goal-kicker Premiership Rugby has ever had, with a kick percentage in excess of 85 per cent. A veritable points scoring machine who is very capable with ball-in-hand.
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Yarde may have left Harlequins under a cloud but has come out the other side at Sale Sharks. While he may still have question marks over his temperament, the same can not be said of his talent and try scoring ability.
12 Rohan Van Rensburg
Sharks confirmed the long-term signing of Rohan Janse Van Rensburg from the Emirates Lions on a three-year deal, and he’s clearly the new cornerstone of the backline. At 6’1 and `108kg, the Springbok is a big physical presence in both defence and attack.
13 James O’Connor
While O’Connor is more often found in the back three or at 10, he has played 13 for the Wallabies and the Western Force. Injury put paid to his last Sharks season but 2018/19 could be the year he genuinely proves himself in the cold climes of the Premiership.
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14 Denny Solomona
Solomona’s move back to Union after spending his early professional career in League couldn’t have been too much smoother, on the pitch at least. He has solidified his grip on an England squad spot and will be looking to make his case for a starting berth again this season.
15 Chris Ashton
Has shown at Toulon that he can play regularly at fullback and score tries – albeit off the incredible carrying of Tuisova and Radradra. Whether he will have quite the plethora of assists to feed off at Sale is another question, but regardless the man is in the form of his life and has a potential spot in England’s World Cup team as motivation.
BENCH:
South African born Byron McGuigan has been excellent for Sale Sharks and for Scotland, while Sam James has been more than competent while playing at outside centre for much of the season. Young Paulo Odogwu has arguably the most explosive feet in the Premiership and veteran Jonny Leota – who struggled with injury last season – will be looking to break back into a backline the Samoan has been a mainstay in for years.
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments