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'He's world-class as it is right now but he's still progressing... there's certainly more to come from him'

By PA
Faf de Klerk /PA

Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson hailed the “world-class” qualities of South Africa scrum-half Faf De Klerk following his side’s victory over Newcastle – and warned there is still more to come from the World Cup winner.

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The Sharks, for the time being at least, moved up to second position in the Gallagher Premiership as tries from Marland Yarde, Lood De Jager and Simon Hammersley helped them to a 31-16 victory.

De Klerk was instrumental in the triumph, setting up the first score with a bullet pass and overall producing an excellent display.

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“Faf was superb again wasn’t he? He’s world-class as it is right now but he’s still progressing in the game. We can still get quicker ball to him though,” Sanderson said.

“If we can get some X-factor like Manu Tuilagi or Rohan Janse Van Rensburg in there, they get you quick ball. That’s when you’re super dangerous isn’t it? We’ll see where he goes from there.

“At the moment, though, he’s getting a better platform from the forwards with the maul and the scrum. But there’s certainly more to come from him.”

Sanderson also praised the Sharks defence as they conceded just one try against the Falcons despite being under plenty of pressure in the second half.

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He added: “It’s not just in the system, it’s in the mentality, which is what it essentially comes down to.

“We thought we lacked a little bit of intensity post the Bristol game for a couple of weeks and we’ve been trying to get back there. I thought we had it last week (against Exeter) and we saw it tonight in spades.

“Line speed and collisions, it was all there.”

Newcastle boss Dean Richards was left frustrated as they were unable to build on their impressive result against Harlequins last weekend.

“There were chances all over the place in the last 15 minutes,” Richards said. “If we could have taken them, it could have been closer.

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“They’re a good side. They’re reasonably well drilled but I thought they got lucky with a few of those scrum penalties. But that’s not the reason we lost.”

One positive for Newcastle was Joel Matavesi’s try-scoring Premiership debut, but it was of little consolation to Richards following the loss.

He added: “We pride ourselves in producing players from our academy and long may that continue, but we’re here to celebrate wins. Overall, as a team, we weren’t as good as we could have been.”

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Nickers 29 minutes ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

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