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The 'cringey energy giver' who has ignited Sale post-Faf de Klerk
When World Cup winner Faf de Klerk said his goodbyes in Manchester and headed to Japan last summer, the path was clear for rookie England international Raffi Quirke to become Alex Sanderson’s first-choice No9. Except he hasn’t. Injuries have limited his availability and instead, it is the unheralded Gus Warr who has dominated in that position at Sale this season with the club galloping into the Gallagher Premiership semi-finals.
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It’s been quite the emergence for the 23-year-old who in previous seasons offset his positioning down the pecking order at the Sharks by embracing loan stints at Doncaster in the Championship. That was an apprenticeship very different from the fast-track emergence of Quirke, who was brought into the England Test fold as a 20-year-old following a flying start to the 2021/22 club season.
There was also Will Cliff to factor into the scrum-half equation, the 34-year-old veteran who has been on the Sale books since 2007/08 bar a couple of seasons at Bristol. Like Quirke, injury has bedeviled Cliff’s current season and the overall result has been for Warr to establish himself as Sanderson’s most-used go-to at nine in this post-de Klerk era.
Sixteen starts Warr has made in his 18 Premiership appearances this team, with another five starts coming in Europe – exposure incomparable to his previous stats at Sale where he started just eight matches in 32 appearances since debuting in 2018/19 as a teenager.
What has ignited the transformation from squad fringe to being at the heart of the hustle and bustle that has Sale challenging for a first league title since 2006? “Consistency is an underestimation of what he brings,” said Sanderson when queried by RugbyPass about the unexpected establishment of Warr in the No9 shirt.
“His decision-making is second to none in regard to how we want to manage the game and his execution of where to do that is the most consistent of all the scrum-halves that we have got. It’s such a boring description of someone who the team has been able to function around as well as we do because he makes the right decisions all the time and his service is second to none – he puts the ball on a six-pence. That’s the outcomes.
“He is a tough little b******. Like tougher than tough. He will put his head in Jasper Wiese’s spokes without question. He will do that down the touchline time and time again and gets up and does it again. I don’t know how his body handles it. He is annoying on the field as much as he is consistent. He is super competitive and as it is affecting an opposition, there is no quarter he gives physically or mentally to players who have been more established, who had a better pedigree and were set for greater things.
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“All of that comes down to the fact that this lad forever has been a second and third choice, has scrapped for contracts and been lower down the pecking order so has been so used to fighting to get there, to earn a spot, to keep a spot and now he is there. All the things he had to get right to put in place to do that have put him in really good stead at this point in time.
“He is not unflappable because no one is, but he is very tough mentally, very tough physically and the team has functioned, has played some of its best rugby with him at nine and that is huge considering the talent that is Raffi Quirke as we saw last week and that is super, super talented.”
What is Warr like in the Sale dressing room? “Really terrible chat – they love how bad it is. If there are little projects to do and we do them now and again, music videos, presentations for the lads for a little of craic, semi-quasi educational, Christmas songs for the academy, Guy helped them this year even though he is years over the academy, he is at the forefront of organising organised fun.
“He is integral – you have to be as a scrum-half to be selected as many times as he has. You have to be not just pivotal in terms of your ability to drive the game model, but also to drive the people and motivate them. He is a real energy giver, even though at times it is cringey how bad his craic is.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
An 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
1 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 Crusades , you can keep going.
1 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!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 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.
24 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.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments