'There's a little bit of him that's forever going to be a part of the Sale DNA'
Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson paid tribute to Faf De Klerk following the South Africa scrum-half’s final game for the club in a 42-19 Gallagher Premiership victory at home to Bristol.
De Klerk signed for the Sharks in 2017 and quickly became a fans’ favourite with his livewire performances.
His displays for Sale helped him regain his spot in the Springboks set up, leading to the 30-year-old being a key part of their World Cup-winning squad.
But after five seasons at the Sharks, De Klerk will leave the Premiership outfit to join the Yokohama Canon Eagles in Japan.
“Special people leave an indelible mark, on you as a person and as an organisation,” Sanderson said
“As he goes on and moves on, I wish him all the best for him and his soon-to-be wife.
“There’s going to be a little bit of him that’s forever going to be a part of the Sale DNA, so we thank for him for that.”
Asked whether De Klerk had helped put Sale back on the map, Sanderson responded: “I hope so.
“The South Africans that are going have been an integral part of putting Sale on the map, it’s now up to us and these young lads – and this group of northern talent – all of whom were on display today. These lads need to take it on.”
Sale utterly dominated the first half, touching down four times through Tom Roebuck, Akker Van Der Merwe and a Cobus Wiese brace.
Toby Fricker crossed the whitewash and Nathan Hughes scored a double in the second period to give the visitors some consolation, but Sale managed two of their own via Dan Du Preez and Arron Reed.
Sale’s director of rugby guided the club to the play-offs in his first season in charge but they were unable to repeat that feat this time around.
They finished in sixth position, five points outside the top four, but Sanderson still believes that it has been a positive campaign.
“There’s been a bit of growth. There was a bit more evolution than what was originally planned, rather than the revolution,” he said.
“Looking back, it’s been a successful season. There’s a bit of sadness when you don’t get what you want, but it’s only when you look back do you realise the friendships you’ve got and how you’ve grown.
“You’ve got to be content – rather than being a little bit sour that we didn’t make the play-offs. We’ve got to look at it as a whole.”
They certainly enjoyed a better campaign than Bristol, who went from the top of the table in 2020-21 to 10th.
The Bears missed out on Champions Cup qualification and director of rugby Pat Lam felt their performance at Sale was symptomatic of their whole season.
“We gave away some really soft tries from our own mistakes, our own errors,” Lam said. “We go on holiday for four weeks and then we’ll get back into work. We’ve got to improve our fundamentals.
“We scored a great 100-metre try, but it was from a forward pass, and then another potential try we lost the ball – and that sort of sums it up.
“We’ve got to put a lot more pressure on individuals to improve these skills and also pressure on ourselves as coaches.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Beautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 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
4 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 comments