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'Top four isn't ours to lose, it’s ours to steal': Sale's Hudson on must-win Sarries match
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Sharks normally bite, but Sale head coach Tom Hudson wants his side to “go into the hornet’s nest” and “sting” in their massive PWR match with Saracens on Saturday at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Hudson stated he believes their opponents do not think that his side are capable of heading to London and returning north with a positive result, but says that is something that he and his charges “thrive” on and that they will be out to prove people wrong.
Any game being played at a 62,850 capacity modern stadium is a big one – the teams are meeting at the Spurs’ football ground before the Saracens-Northampton Saints men’s’ Showdown 6’ PREM clash – and this one is especially big.
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A recent run of five league wins on the trot sees Sale now sitting fourth in the standings and with hopes of making it to the play-offs after a bottom of the table finish last year.
They have just two regular season games left though – this match and then a trip to third placed Exeter Chiefs in round 18 on June 7th after the Six Nations – and have the likes of Trailfinders Women, who have an extra game to play, breathing down their necks.
PWR
P
W
L
D
PF
PA
PD
BP T
BP-7
BP
Total
1
Gloucester-Hartpury Women RFC
13
13
0
0
65
2
Saracens Women
13
11
2
0
56
3
Exeter Chiefs Women
14
7
4
3
46
4
Sale Sharks Women
14
6
7
1
37
5
Trailfinders Women
13
5
6
2
36
6
Harlequins Women
14
5
8
1
36
7
Loughborough Lightning
13
4
7
2
32
8
Bristol Bears Women
13
4
8
1
25
9
Leicester Tigers Women
13
0
13
0
1
Having come this far, the coaches and squad from the Sharks do not want to break up for the Six Nations next week with any regrets and Hudson is clearly trying to fire his players up for the game versus second placed Sarries who beat them 36-17 with a bonus point at Heywood Road back in December.
“I don’t believe that they [Saracens] believe that we have got a chance on the weekend and we thrive on that,” Hudson said in his pre-match press briefing.
“We have got to make sure that we go into the hornet’s nest and don’t get stung too many times but [make sure] we do sting.
“I think you’re going to see two completely different brands of rugby on the weekend, you’re going to see the ill-disciplined versus the disciplined.
“Saracens have an incredible way of managing occasions, opposition teams, themselves and referees and we want to make sure that we don’t allow that.
“It was a good win against Bristol last week, but not getting a bonus point probably means we’ve got to go and get a result at Saracens [to keep play-off hopes alive] which will be very, very difficult.
“Top four isn’t ours to lose, it’s ours to steal.
“You still have two teams with a game in hand on us that can, if they gain 15 points out of 15, perhaps get top four and that’s out of our control. Ealing [Trailfinders] can definitely do it while Loughborough would have to get on the right side of points difference [if Sale and them both finish on the maximum they can get of 47 points] to do that and Harlequins are in the mix too.
“We have made big strides this season, but if we want to take another big step forward and go and chase the play-off dream, we’ve got to go and beat a big dog away from home and we’ve got an opportunity to go and do that at the weekend.
“I think Gloucester and Saracens are still miles ahead [of the chasing pack], but we want to be hard to beat in every single fixture that we play in.”
If Sale are to secure an away win at the weekend then their Scottish wing duo of Rhona Lloyd and Shona Campbell will be key attacking weapons.
Lloyd has scored 11 league tries this term and Campbell eight and Hudson said about the former GB Sevens players: “What is phenomenal about them is their robustness, their resilience and their work rate.
“Their kick chase, their willingness to tackle the opposition and their desire to get up for high balls is excellent and means that they are effectively like really fast back-rowers for us.
“We are currently creating try-scoring opportunities for them and they’re taking them, but it is their overall game that impresses me the most.
“The wide channels are so important to us and the way we like to play and they will be again this weekend.”
