Tom Roebuck outlines 'big part' of career plans after new Sale deal

Tom Roebuck has committed his future to Sale Sharks after signing a new two-year contract with his boyhood club.

The new deal will keep the England wing at Sale until at least the end of the 2028/29 season, extending an association that began in the club’s academy.

Roebuck has made 114 appearances and scored 54 tries since making his senior debut in a PREM Rugby Cup defeat to Worcester in 2018, having previously played his junior rugby at Chester Rugby Club.

The 25-year-old has endured a more turbulent year internationally. Roebuck was one of the casualties of England’s disappointing Six Nations campaign and was subsequently omitted from Steve Borthwick’s original Nations Championship squad. He was handed another opportunity when George Furbank underwent appendix surgery, being added to the squad, but failed to feature.

The winger said that playing for England is a “big part” of his career plans, and believes Sale is the “best place” to help him revive his international career.

His focus will now return to Sale, where he has been unable to feature in the opening three rounds of the Gallagher PREM because of a calf strain. He did play and score against Bath in the PREM Rugby Cup earlier this season.

“For me, Sale Sharks is home,” Roebuck said. “It’s the club I supported as a child, it’s where I’ve grown up and it’s all I know. I love it here and I couldn’t see myself playing anywhere else.

“I also get to play with a group of mates who I have grown up playing with and that’s incredibly special.

“The coaches and I are aligned on how we want my career to pan out and a big part of that is playing for England. I feel I’m in the best place, with the best people around me, to keep pushing forward.

“We’ve got such a good team here and we’ve been so close in the past few years, reaching semi-finals and a final. Now I want to put my best foot forward and be part of the Sale team that goes one better and makes the next step.”

Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson added: “Tom is one of our own and he has developed into one of the very best wingers in the PREM. We’re so happy that he’s sticking with us because he’s a massive part of how we want to play going forward.

“He has an X-factor that very few other players have but the most exciting part is that he’s getting better all the time and I know his best is yet to come. I’m buzzing that his best years will be in a Sharks shirt.”