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.
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.
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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.
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.
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
Does a blitz defence not have a weekness against a well-placed grubber kick, perhaps angled cleverly. All the defence is up and the full-back can only cover so much ground. Thoughts?
28 Go to commentsWhile Iose is destructive in the Canes set-up, he is not big for an international 8 and could struggle against the top teams. With his speed, he could be developed into a seven but, as Ben points out, he doesn’t show a scavenging game with the Canes or make dominating tackles. Sotutu has shown a step up this year and attitude plus motivation seems to be the big areas of growth. Deserves another AB shot imo.
3 Go to commentsNaholo is my only question mark for this side. He wasn’t the only one who had a forgettable game against the Brumbies but he was passive, defensively poor and generally lacked energy. Needs to get a whole lot busier for me. I would have liked to see Sullivan on that wing with Higgins on the bench (if staying with a 6-2 as BeegMike points out on here!)
3 Go to commentsWell, I am sure that Eben said exactly what he meant to say, exactly how he meant to say it. Does he strike you as a man that doesn't know arrogance when he sees it. He should know it because he has shaken the arrogance out of many foes before.
128 Go to commentsPls get it into your thick arrogant heads that the final was played by two Southern Hemisphere teams. The best against the best and that Argentina was just unlucky otherwise non of the Northetn Hemisphere teams would have seen the light of day.
128 Go to commentsAs long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
4 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to commentsBest way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
128 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
5 Go to commentsAndy Goode pushing his own agenda with very dubious considerations on refereeing performances. Luke Pearce speaking a bit of French doesn’t make him a good and adequate referee for the Champions Cup final; his latest refereeing performance in particular was not so great.
4 Go to commentsJordie knows that he has to earn the right to put on the jersey, whatever that jersey might be.
5 Go to commentsThe best outside centre in the world at one point. He will be greatly missed.
3 Go to commentsYip his great for the big moments when needed as a safa really enjoy watching him
4 Go to commentsOne that will start to come up from now on is penalties for back pushes during kick chase scrambles. Very difficult to detect. In Croke Park if you replay the Hendy NH try, you will see Furbank push Porter in the back, who collides with Larmour knocking the ball across into Hendy’s path to dot down. A more significant example was in the RWC QTR final where Arendse pushes Fickou into two other French players for the ball to spill into Arendse’s path for him to gather and run in to score SAs first try. Not cheating if you are not caught and very difficult to spot but with kicking becoming so critical I feel its an area that will referreeed/TMO-ed more.
4 Go to commentsWhat a pathetic little twit Andy Goode is, as if we care what he thinks…..😂
128 Go to commentsFoxy has been a wonderful player for the Scarlets and Wales.
3 Go to commentsNika the Georgian is the best referee in the world at the moment. Luckily we will be spared the shite SH refs and Barnes will hopefully remain retired given how shite and embarrassing he was at the RWC.
4 Go to commentsThis is the most exciting game of the summer imo, as we really won’t know in advance how both teams are going to play. - Will Robertson just reproduce his Crusaders tactics from last year, or will there be a conscious effort to borrow from the Hurricanes and Blues, and from the aspects of the ABs world cup strategy that worked well? - England under Borthwick have put in some good performances playing attacking rugby, and some good performances playing kick-oriented defensive rugby. Will Borthwick try to merge them together into a single all-court game, or will he continue switching between different approaches depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition?
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
9 Go to comments