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'Tenacious' De Klerk set to join Sale

South Africa scrum-half Faf de Klerk

Faf de Klerk will join Sale Sharks from next season as the Premiership club look to replace Mike Phillips at scrum-half.

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Phillips hung up his boots – adorned with the words ‘I did it my way’ for his final game – after Sale’s 27-24 win over Bath on Saturday.

And on Monday, Sale announced the impending arrival of South Africa international De Klerk from Super Rugby outfit Lions on a three-year deal.

“I am made up that Faf has decided to join us next season,” said Sale director of rugby Steve Diamond.

“He is tenacious with a fantastic work rate – he dictates the tempo and direction of the game and I think he will fit in well both with our style of play, and with a young, ambitious squad.

“He’s an unbelievable ball carrier, has a solid kicking game and he is exciting around the pitch. He sees the weakness in his opposition and can leverage this to his advantage.

“He’s young but has massive experience and this will be crucial in helping us to build on the foundations we have put in place this year.”

Since making his Springboks debut against Ireland in June last year, De Klerk has made 11 international appearances.

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Nickers 24 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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