'The players mentioned exactly that': Why card trick left Sale flummoxed at Exeter
Alex Sanderson has acknowledged the irony of Sale failing to profit from a rare on-pitch numerical advantage last weekend at Exeter following a 2021 campaign where the opposite has usually been the case with the Sharks the team reduced in numbers.
The new director of rugby’s reign at Sale is only 16 Gallagher Premiership matches old but it has coincided with a card fest, the Sharks on the receiving end of 19 yellows and one red compared to an opposition tally of seven yellow and two reds.
Of the 16 games played, there have been ten where Sale have been the more numerically challenged team compared to the opposition yet they have still managed to win nine of those matches, resulting in Sanderson frequently praising their defensive shift when a man short.
However, last weekend at Sandy Park was a rare occasion where the cards penalised the opposition more, but Sale couldn’t transfer this numerical advantage into a win. Exeter lost Dave Ewers to a first yellow card and then Sam Skinner to an early second-half red, only for Sale to go on and relinquish the 19-3 lead that had them on the cusp of securing the bonus-point win that would have earned home-field advantage for this Saturday’s semi-final.
Instead, they lost 19-20, pressure added to by them losing Ben Curry to the sin bin making it a 14 versus 14 match for ten minutes. They must now go back to Sandy Park for this weekend’s semi-finals and the irony of how the round 22 loss unfolded – Sale unable to benefit from the extra man after months of defiance where they showed they could thrive when they were the team a man down – wasn’t lost on Sanderson.
Title-chasing Sale has been speaking colourfully about the form and the injury situation of their casualties from last Saturday's loss at Exeter, the team whom the Sharks face again this Saturday #EXEvSALhttps://t.co/Bw0vNwONdp
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 15, 2021
Asked by RugbyPass for his reflections on this anomaly, Sanderson said: “Yeah, wasn’t it just. The players mentioned exactly that. Did we think that this game was done and dusted, did we think we were taking it back to Manchester at that point in time or should we expect some kind of rallying from Exeter because that is what good teams do? We’d expect that from ourselves so why would we expect less from Exeter and seemingly we did at that point. They are the reflections that we have had, that we have spoken about in the week. It was exactly that.
“There was some talk about our ability to take opportunities in the opposition 22 and I guess that kind of highlighted where our heads were at, chasing a bonus point and not where they should have been at in stemming the flow of penalties, wrestling back the momentum of the game when it went Exeter’s way.
“Potentially in our 22 we were thinking about scoring in their 22 and it shows you what kind of a distraction or what a little distraction can do to 15 players being in the moment, being on it and understanding what their next role and their next job is. So the players’ talk was about opportunities and after the cold reflection there was a common understanding that it wasn’t so much the opportunities that we missed that would have won us the game, it was the momentum shift after the red card that lost it.
“We had a team meeting on it, as we do every Monday. It’s not a crisis meeting. Every Monday I come in and I get their thoughts and reflections on the game, I get a little bit of a hot debrief on the bus on the way home and then we get straight from them without clips, what do you think?
“Now we have had days to look at it, think about it, we will try and improve our team awareness, our on-field awareness. Did we realise that we were sliding at this point in time or did we just keep thinking all we need is another try?
“If you start thinking about the outcome, you start thinking about something that could happen and in the moment you’re not playing the game, you’re not on that phase, you take your eye off what needs to be done and that is a really, really big lesson.
“It is probably not going to happen this weekend but it’s a lesson for every moment of the game against the best team. If you slip and that shift happens and you let them in, it’s very difficult to wrestle the momentum back from a team as dominant and as efficient as Exeter.”
"I’m struggling with the whole process"
– It's rare for Rob Baxter to get upset but that is how the Exeter boss was at Wednesday's Premiership semi-final media briefing #EXEvSALhttps://t.co/0C5g9ZV3Az
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 16, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
Except for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
33 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
2 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
33 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
49 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
33 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
33 Go to commentsI’m a pensioner so I've been around a bit. My opinion of SBW is he is an elite athlete and a great New Zealander and roll model. He has been to the top and knows what he's talking about. To all the negative comments regarding SBW the typical New Zealand way, cut that tall poppy down.
17 Go to commentsI'm not listening to a guy moralise over others when this is the guy who walked out mid season on Canterbury RLFC when he had a contract with them, what a hypocrite. Those praising him are a joke.
17 Go to commentsI’d put Finau at 6 instead of Blackadder but that’s the only change I’d make. Can’t wait to see who Razor picks.
33 Go to commentsTamati Williams, Codie Taylor, and Same Cane? Not sure about Hoskins Sotutu at test level. Wasn’t that impressive last season. Need a balance between experience and talent/youth.
33 Go to commentsInteresting insight. Fantastic athlete, and a genuine human being.
17 Go to commentsThey played at night in Suva last weekend and it’s an afternoon game forecast for 19 degrees in Canberra this weekend. Heat change is a non issue.
1 Go to commentsWishing Rosie a speedy recovery
1 Go to commentsObscene that SA haven’t been knocking
1 Go to commentsChances of Blackadder being injured seem too high to give him serious consideration. ABs loosie combination finally looked good with 2 committed to tackling and clearing rucks in the centre and Ardie roaming. Hoskins/Ardie together would force one of them into where they don’t excel and don’t get to use their talent, or require a change in tactics. If we continue to evolve last years systems I would take Papali’i and Finau at 6 and 7 (conceding that Blackadder will be injured) and Ardie at 8.
33 Go to commentsArdie’s preferred position 7? Where do they get these writers from? I've no idea where he's playing in Japan, but the previous two seasons he wore the 7 jersey exactly twice.
17 Go to commentsNot good to hear Ulster described as “financially troubled”. Did not think it was getting to that level. I would hope the Irish system of spreading players of talent away from Leinster would kick in now. Better to have a Leinster fringe player with Ulster or Connacht, then getting only a few games a season in Dublin. 10, for example, would seem to be a case for spreading the talent. I would not be at all adverse to a SA man coming in as head coach/DR. Ludeke is worth trying. Certainly got a long and impressive coaching career at this level…..149 games in SR, then Japan, 30 years experience. And Ulster’s ledger of successful SA coaches and players is on the positive side. Is talk of Ruan Pienaar interested in coming back as a coach…..could be a good combination with Ludeke. And Pienaar and family would have no settling in to do, one would judge. He loved life in Ulster when there, by all reports.
1 Go to commentsSome thoughts to consider here, Sam. Thanks
2 Go to comments