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'There is nothing in my bones that wants to beat Saracens more'
Ex-Saracens assistant Alex Sanderson is a touch mischievous, claiming he struggles to remember the fixtures schedule that his current club Sale have once they get next Saturday’s new Gallagher Premiership season opener versus Bath out of the way. He claims he had to look up the calendar rather than know off the top of his head that a trip to London Irish is what is pencilled in for the Sharks in round two of the 2021/22 English league.
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However, the one fixture he doesn’t haven’t any hesitation knowing all about is next November’s clash between Sale, the club he joined last January as their rookie director of rugby, and Saracens, the serial trophy winners where he earned his stripes as a long-serving assistant under Mark McCall.
It’s the first time their paths will have crossed since their parting and the round nine fixture on November 28 in Manchester – which takes place eight days after his Springboks contingent led by Faf de Klerk wrap up their Test year at Twickenham versus England – is sure to emotionally test Sanderson in a way he hasn’t yet experienced during his eight months so far in charge at the Sharks.
McCall has been a regular sounding board for Sanderson ever since he decided at the top of the year that his rugby future was best served in Manchester and not in London and it will be interesting how that rapport evolves now that Sale are a rival of Saracens and not just a club the Londoners were looking up at from the Championship during the closing few months of the 2020/21 Premiership season and egging their old boy on go well while he was settling in.
“I have looked at that Saracens game and I do know when it is now,” said Sanderson when asked by RugbyPass about a date in the Premiership at the AJ Bell Stadium that will surely carry some extra oomph for a director of rugby still learning his trade as a boss. “We have got a bye week the week after and it’s the week that the South Africans come straight back off after the autumn internationals, so I’d look at rotation all the way until at Christmas.
There are multiple good reasons why Saracens are still favourites for the Premiership title despite limits on availability of their stars https://t.co/MoymneYIZ4
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 11, 2021
“There is nothing in my bones that wants to beat Saracens more because that is what you do with the people that you love, your brothers, whoever it is. It’s not just the points, it’s bragging rights. They know that and they feel the same, but I’m not about to let my heart overrule the head with regards to what is the best thing for these players when they come back. If they have had four (Test) games on the trot then they need a rest. We’ll take that as we come to it, take into account where they are at and what the best chances are of us winning that game.”
Sanderson reckons Saracens are deserving Premiership title favourites on their return to the top flight and while his admiration of them is no secret, what does his old pal McCall make of Sale? “His feedback has been constant because I call him constantly,” he explained.
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“He was really supportive in some of the first games in terms of the shift in the mentality that we had on the field and then latterly in our ability to close games out which wasn’t one of Sale’s former traits and that is through a shift in the coaching methodology, how we are trained in the week.
“We share a lot of very similar principles in terms of rotation and looking after international players which I have had some discussion with the South Africans and the one English lad we have got. He [McCall] is nothing but supportive, nothing but supportive, he is a great lad and that hasn’t waned over the course of the pre-season after he has got into the Premiership.”
What words from McCall most stand out for Sanderson? “It’s not his advice, which is always sound. It’s more the man that he is that has inspired me to be a better DoR on a day to day basis, kind of the values and the principles that he lives by which I still aspire to attain in many ways and to do that for the length of time that he has done it shows that is him as a person and not him playing a part of filling a role.
“One of those, which is the first thing I said to the lads, is honesty, being true to yourself as in telling the truth you can never be done by the truth and in so many ways it sets you free. You can’t fool them [players], they are smart guys. You are going to get done at some point if you start playing mind games. I will endeavour to remain as I can for their best interests and for the club.”
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"There's stuff, loads of stuff – wouldn't you like to know what is in it?"
– It's been an intriguing first summer at Sale with Alex Sanderson at the helm of the Premiership title hopefulshttps://t.co/JlgvSUP7WO
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 11, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
After their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
2 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
31 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
3 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to comments