Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

The three facets of play that are costing Sale the most penalties

(Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images for Sale Sharks)

Alex Sanderson has vowed to improve the on-pitch discipline at Sale, but not at the cost of the physicality that makes them a competitive side in the Gallagher Premiership and the Heineken Champions Cup. The Sharks are by no means the English league’s worst offenders as they currently only check in at seventh on the most penalties conceded list, their 110 Premiership total a far rosier number than the biggest offenders Bath and their 130 infringements.    

ADVERTISEMENT

However, rookie director of rugby Sanderson admits his team doesn’t help itself at times. Having gotten through the opening eight matches of their league campaign coughing up only three yellow cards and one red, their behaviour has come in for scrutiny in their two most recent outings. 

Bryon McGuigan was red-carded for a needless mixed martial arts-style intervention at Saracens. It landed him a three-game suspension, and Sale then failed to kick on to secure a four-try bonus in their opening round European match at Ospreys last Sunday. 

Video Spacer

Ali Price guests on the latest RugbyPass Offload

Video Spacer

Ali Price guests on the latest RugbyPass Offload

Three tries had the comfortably 21-3 ahead after just 24 minutes but a pair of yellow cards for Lood de Jager and Ben Curry and the concession of 18 penalties in total left them stuttering through the remainder of a match that also had a disciplinary hearing sequel, Nick Schonert getting banned for two games for a collision after he had dangerously entered a maul.

Sanderson now wants his Sale team to improve its behaviour, but not to such a draconian level where it stops them from being competitive. Ahead of the round two European game at home to Clermont, a match that was postponed on Friday due to tightened virus regulations in France, the Sale boss reflected on his team’s general level of discipline which has given the club a bit of an unwanted reputation.  

“I tend not to listen to public opinion, I probably wouldn’t have a job if I did,” he said, but he admitted the concessions of a high number of penalties does take a toll. “Of course it does and it affects performance, but the alternative is we give away five penalties and we are not competitive or not physical. If I had a choice, I’d rather give away ten to twelve penalties and be on the edge, but more often than not we seem to tip over. We are trying to find where that edge is. Is it individuals and being that bit more aware in the context of the game? We are massively physical, very competitive and with that comes an ill-discipline with Sale and that would be our own perception of ourselves. It is something we want to remedy without losing that physicality that we have.”

Asked what areas do Sale most infringe in, Sanderson said: “Offsides, off feet in attacking breakdown and also when we are jackaling for balls, and the scrum has been a consistent issue in terms of collapsing or someone taking an angle.” The Sale boss added that he has had referees visit his squad to help them brush up on their discipline, but that is something he would like to do more often as well as practising more on the training ground how to handle the periods when they are down a man to a sin-bin or a red card.

ADVERTISEMENT

“We probably need to more, definitely. We have had referees down three times and had someone down about four weeks ago during the Prem Cup,” he said when asked about referee visits before moving on to how much they train for going a man down. “Not a massive amount. We have done more in the past, maybe we should do more again. 

“There is scenario planning and of course the position they get sent off has a massive impact on the defensive system and/or how you approach the breakdown. We have certain fixes and go to depending on what position goes off for set-piece defence and a clear message so we have got a shared mental model of what the plan is for that ten minutes.

“What happened last weekend with Ben going off for not releasing, accumulative penalties, Ospreys at that time had the rub of the green in the scrums and the maul, so it was a pretty easy plan. We took a winger off, put JP du Preez (a lock) on and said, ‘Right, we have got to win this up front’. Marland (Yarde), you have got to swap sides and chase every kick… we will scrum and maul and we will wrest back that momentum. That gives you an example of last weekend what we did. That is just one scenario. It could be different depending on what the game needs.”

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
JPM 49 minutes ago
Forget Ireland, the All Blacks face the real alpha of Europe next

Unfortunately you don't know anything about French rugby, coaches and players but still making a lot of assumptions and judgements to push your prefabricated and simplistic point of view that Dupont is manipulating everything and is a bad guy. I am not a NZ rugby specialist and wouldn't dare make such theories about what is going on within the ABs team. Therefore my advice to you is to do like Dupont and stay humble when you don't know all the background of the issues !!!


Firstly if you knew a bit of Galthié, he is not the type of coach who is going to ask advice to his players and even his captain about team selection. He is as stubborn as you...


Second Ramos has played a lot of times as 10 with Toulouse and therefore Dupont (in particular when Ntamack is injured and unfortunately it has often happened recently and for long periods). He even played 10 during the last 3 games of the 2024 6N and this was far better performance than the first two games with Jalibert as 10.


Thirdly Jalibert lacked of respect to a La Rochelle player so your theory is once again out.


Fourth as I explained to you Galthié went for a 6-2 bench and Jalibert can only play 10 which doesn't fit that plan. Furthermore as 15 Buros is better under high balls than Ramos and everybody is prepared for a tactical kicking game.


So you can blame Galthié for a lot of things (as you clearly enjoy doing at the end of your post and you should be very happy as an AB fan) but certainly not Dupont. Sorry once more for your conspiracy theory.


And don't worry about potential disharmony in the French team; they are excellent mates around their captain. Jalibert is well known in the French rugby circles to have not a strong character (and we saw that in the WC quarter finals as he is very nervous in any decisive international game unlike Ntamack and Ramos as for his late penalty kick vs England this year).


In conclusion enjoy the game tmrw night. It is good that the ABs are very upset; we should watch a great game of rugby. I hope for running rugby and not too much kicking. With 5 key players injured on our side (Ntamack, Baille, Atonio, Cros and Penaud) and 2 on your side I and various French fans see you as favourites. I obviously hope for another result.


If you are interested you can read a good article in the Guardian on the subject of France-NZ games.

92 Go to comments
K
KB 51 minutes ago
The 'one difference' between Boks and the back-to-back All Blacks

Consistency hasnt been there they have many great players SA were also not unbeaten in the 2023 WC - NZ were in 2015 WC McCaw and Carter Nonu and Smith - SA did not have those Marque players in those postions in 2019 or 2023 - I wouldnt rank them ahead of the 20I5 ABs - They clocked up 60 points against France in the QF - Furthermore I do not believe for one moment SA won 2023 fairly no way - they were so favoured it became obvious that behind the scenes SA the nation bought the title - Their last 3 matches were won by a solitary point there were many contentious decisions that went their way that it became obvious it wasnt coincidence - Sport has been hijacked by a satanic cult just as is Politics

Some players coaches officials and sponsors are involved - they know who they are - its called Freemasonry - any sport that allows betting is corrupt - its not all about money either for these parasites its also about control - Lots of American NFL players have spoken openly about games being scripted - Football is also rigged Referees have been caught on film showing freemason hand signs - The 95 RWC final ranks as the highest and most obvious attempt at cheating There was no way SA were going to allow NZ to gate crash Nelson Mandelas reunification party - NZ were so good they had to posion almost the entire team to get a 3 point win - a Hollywood Movie ( theres your Red Flag ) was made about SAs triumph called Invictus


William Henley wrote a poem called Invictus


It starts


Out of the night that covers me BLACK ( All Blacks ) as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever GODS maybe for my unconquerable Soul ...( Olan says INVICTUS is an evil Malevolent entity who corrupted the Titans ... this is Mandelas double meaning speech ( hes a fraud ) - of thanks for helping overcome SA's adversary NZ - There is only ONE true God Yahuah - Only a false god would be complicit in Cheating Corruption and Harming others to win a RWC for a sick and sinful Nation ) the poem ends with


I am the CAPTAIN of my soul


SA will forever bear the stain of guilt and disgrace over their involvement in poisoning the ABs a day before the 95 RWC Final

11 Go to comments
C
CO 1 hour ago
Forget Ireland, the All Blacks face the real alpha of Europe next

I cannot believe that you don't think the French rugby team coach and captain are not discussing putting Jalibert on the bench in favour of Duponts club teammate that doesn't even play at 10.


This is a terrible, massive insult to a 10 and I'm sure Dupont would also be very enraged if benched for a player that doesn't even play halfback.


A good captain would've insisted to the coach that it was an idea of madness and either select Jalibert or replace him with another 10 if you want him to be reserve.


Jalibert may not be the world's finest tacklers but that's often not a tens main strength that the loose forwards and second five cover. An intercept pass is never great but they happen.


When any player is playing for his club then it's club first, respect doesn't need to be shown to opposition players simply because they're internationals.


Who exactly are you claiming Jalibert hasn't respected? If it's Toulouse international players then it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this bench demotion out.


The outcome of selecting Jalibert to the bench and he then throwing his croissants out the window of the team bus immediately prior to playing the Allblacks is a disaster that will be team disharmony as any team mates of Jalibert are in a state of anger and revolt so a performance that will be sub optimal against a team that is thirsting for revenge against France.


I don't know about you but the Allblacks are very upset they've lost twice in a row to France and want to put out a statement performance so this preparation by Galthie of creating havoc looks to me like a coach that is clueless.

92 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ 'Two groups of dancing bears': The cross-code clash making a comeback for charity 'Two groups of dancing bears': The cross-code clash making a comeback for charity
Search