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Sale begin life after Steve Diamond with defeat to Toulon

By PA
Toulon's News Zealand centre Ma'a Nonu (R) tackles English fullback Simon Hammersley (Photo by CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP via Getty Images)

Sale started the week by losing director of rugby Steve Diamond and ended it with a 26-14 defeat at the hands of Toulon in their Heineken Champions Cup opener.

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Diamond left Sale on Tuesday after 10 years for personal reasons and without him the English side struggled to cope with their French opponents, for whom Louis Carbonel was outstanding.

France fly-half Carbonel contributed 16 points as Toulon’s tries came from wing pair Gabin Villiere and Ramiro Moyano, but Sale rallied from 26-0 down.

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Steve Diamond’s last ever interview as Sale DoR:

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Steve Diamond’s last ever interview as Sale DoR:

Marland Yarde and Sam Phillips grabbed consolations, but Sale’s poor discipline and line-out struggles cost them.

Sale competed on an equal footing for the opening quarter and it took until the 21st minute for Carbonel to open the scoring. In the first five minutes the Sharks were indebted to superb defence from Cobus Wiese stopping what looked like being a certain home try.

That moment aside, Sale were not afraid to have a go. AJ MacGinty would have been disappointed to not be successful with a penalty attempt. Wiese then did well to dance down the touchline.

Sale were clearly keen to move the ball from side to side, but their attempt to do so saw former New Zealand superstar Ma’a Nonu smash Simon Hammersley in midfield. Toulon won the penalty through some fine breakdown work from Villiere and Carbonel did not miss as he made it 6-0.

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Hammersley did brilliantly to reclaim MacGinty’s restart, but more magic from Carbonel created the game’s first try. The fly-half chipped ahead, collected his own kick, and sent Villiere away to score, with Carbonel converting.

Both sides were warned by referee Frank Murphy after a dust-up just before half-time. Toulon felt Carbonel had been taken out at a ruck, but it was handbags.

The Toulon pitch was cutting up badly, but after Toulon won a scrum penalty, Carbonel sent his team to the break 16-0 up with the last kick of the half.

Carbonel started the second period as he ended the first, with a penalty, and then saw his loosehead prop Jean-Baptiste Gros break clear.

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Sale lost Jono Ross to a head injury assessment while Toulon’s giant second row Eben Etzebeth went the same way after the two players collided.

South Africa’s World Cup-winning scrum-half Faf De Klerk came on to try and turn the tide back Sale’s way, but he could not stop Toulon’s second try.

Replacement hooker Christopher Tolofua barged his way through and found Sergio Parisse.

The veteran Italian was tackled by De Klerk but produced a miracle offload to wing Moyano and Carbonel added the extras.

Sale hit back through Yarde and it was a fine try. Sam James kicked ahead with his left foot and Sam Dugdale did brilliantly to collect and send Yarde over the line, and MacGinty converted.

All of a sudden Sale were dangerous, helped by the impetus of De Klerk and James from the bench. They grabbed a second try when their forwards drove forward and De Klerk found lock Phillips who scored between the posts.

MacGinty kicked the simple goal, but there was no further score.

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O
Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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