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'You're never going to find me at a lower ebb than I am right now... and I don't feel that low'
Alex Sanderson made a canny prediction when he arrived as director of rugby last month at Sale – that fans would see an initial burst of energy from his squad and then those levels would drop off and things would become a bit of a slog in the weeks after that. So it has proven.
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Sale got off to a flyer with their new man at the helm, winning at Leicester and Bristol in his opening two games in charge. Since then, though, they have been beaten by Bath and Harlequins and they go into their Friday night game at home to champions Exeter knowing that another defeat will further hinder hopes of making the end-of-season semi-finals.
For Sanderson, it has been quite a baptism as a boss man after so many years working as an assistant at Saracens where the wins and the trophies kept coming around again and again before the club encountered salary cap problems and were packed off to the Championship.
Learning the ropes as a club figurehead has been an interesting experience and whatever about his squad’s currently waning energy levels after an initial spike, Sanderson was glad when RugbyPass asked him the other day how he himself was coping with it all as a new director of rugby having to quickly earn his stripes with the games coming thick and fast.
“Thanks for asking me,” he said when RugbyPass queried how he was feeling six weeks into his new gig in Manchester. “It is Tuesday, the worst day of the week, innit, and it is probably our longest, hardest day after a tough weekend.
"Hands down, he is one of the most engaging coaches I have ever worked with"@TheRugbyPod #GallagherPrem https://t.co/LHBo4ukW9H
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 14, 2021
“You are never going to find me at a lower ebb than I am right now, quite honestly, and I don’t feel that low. I am still enjoying it. But as I said after the game (with Harlequins), the losing, if you can’t handle losing then you are in the wrong job.”
Whereas before those losses with Saracens came when he was a cog in the wheel, does losing feel any different now that Sanderson is the Sale boss and all eyes are on him in an era in the Premiership where the cult of the manager is all-encompassing?
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“I guess the trick is not to (let it affect me). If it were just about me what a narcissistic, egotistical world you would live in. Then all the wins are down to me as well. The wins are no fun either as well by yourself, you want to share that and you share the losses.
“That was what I was so happy about coming in on Monday morning because I had my own ideas of what we did wrong but in putting the question to them [the players], they gave me the answers I already had.
“That’s gold that – that is when you are on the same page with the trust and the psychological safety of the players to feel that they are vulnerable enough to say what needs to be said without feeling recrimination or retribution which they are not going to get it here now.
“We’re here to find the answers and we had that on Monday and that for me empowers me. It gives me energy as much it does Manu Tuilagi coming out, as he did yesterday [Monday] unasked, giving me a cup of his coffee because he is a great barista. So a little selfless act like that gave me a little bit of energy yesterday.
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“We have got a lot of good people in this organisation and I know it seems trivial that, but it’s those little things that drive an organisation in terms of its energy moving forward. Right now as you would expect there are no splinter groups, there are no people just looking after themselves, there is no one going into silos.
“It’s very much, ‘Right, this is where we are, what do we need to fix?’ We have got Exeter, who are European champions, on our own ground on Friday. That gives me energy just talking about it.”
And it's not just size.
New @SaleSharksRugby DoR Alex Sanderson explains what makes South Africans such good rugby players. https://t.co/vpsnkYToTx
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 22, 2021
As a new boss, there is also a danger that Sanderson could begin burning the midnight oil, feeling he has to put more and more time in to find the solutions that will best make his Sale work. However, he has been conscious of not falling into that time-consuming trap, nudged along by a little help from home.
“I have got a four-year-old kid so I have got no choice. It is wrestle time when I get home at seven o’clock at the moment, straight into rough and tumble. Yeah, look that [time-keeping] is something I need to keep an eye on, thank you for asking the question.
“But right now as it is in trying to make the changes and it’s not massive changes but any changes, any lasting change, it takes a huge amount of effort so my wife and myself, I am fortified by the fact that as hard as I am working now and as much energy as I am giving now it’s not going to be forever.
“It’s going to be for a time until this machine gathers its own momentum and it starts to drive itself and I am just having to give everything I have got as everyone is to get it moving in the right direction initially.”
When Sanderson was at Saracens, their trophy-chasing rivalry with Exeter became a huge thing in English sport and he is hoping that some of this angst he felt when taking on the Chiefs will now play a part in him energising his Sale team to get stuck into the current Premiership champions when they visit the AJ Bell this Friday.
“I bring rivalry into every game we go into,” said Sanderson. “I just think that the edge in sport, as you saw in The Last Dance, is so important. For some of these guys who might have played 200 games and won World Cups, they need to feel an energy from me for an opposition that we have on a weekend.
“What is it, patience is a virtue and anger is a gift, so you need to cultivate anger where you have it. That is my take on it.”
@RugbyPass coming in with the goods just in time to watch all your super rugby games.. weekends are sorted!!. https://t.co/oGxHXVnuP5 ???? #code #leeesgooo
— nemzy (@nemani_nadolo) February 25, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 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
3 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 commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments