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The 'sweet spot' Sale hope to hit loaning out their young players

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Sale Sharks will look to strengthen their fledgling relationship with Caldy after the Wirral outfit won promotion to the Championship for the 2022/23 season at the expense of Sale FC, the side that Alex Sanderson’s Gallagher Premiership club had been providing most of its academy stars to.

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Whereas Caldy only made use of Elliot Gourley and to a lesser extent Nye Thomas over the course of their title-winning National 1 campaign, the Premiership club were heavily invested in the namesake amateur club on its doorstep in Manchester.

Sharks transition coach Neil Briggs coaches at Sale FC but no sooner was the grassroots promotion race decided against them was he on the blower to Caldy inquiring how Sanderson and co could help the promotion winners make the step up to a level of rugby they have not participated in before.

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Caldy head coach Matt Cairns, an ex-Saracens teammate of Sanderson, has also visited the Sale training ground at Carrington and plans are afoot for a pre-season friendly between the Premiership and Championship clubs to further bolster relations.

The Sale belief is that the more their academy players play second-tier matches rather than being in the gym, the closer they will be to making a Premiership first-team breakthrough under Sanderson.

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Asked by RugbyPass if the Sharks will offer more of their young players to Caldy in an effort to help steel the Championship newcomers, Sanderson said: “It’s a huge possibility. We filled Sale FC up with a few more of our players post-Christmas, up to a maximum of six because that is what the laws stipulate, and I pushed to get them promoted.

“They are just across the road, they’re 50 metres away and Neil Briggs, our transition coach, coaches them so we have a good link there. But knowing Matt Cairns, we all went down to watch the game that decided Nat 1 at Caldy and it was a great day, they had barbecues on and the banks were full.

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It was a brilliant day for that level of rugby for the north and Caldy won and went nuts as we know, went absolutely crazy and Sale FC went home with the tail between their legs but the next day we were on the phone to Matt. Neil Briggs, who had to swallow a bit of his own pride, was saying, ‘How can we help you and help us to make this a good thing for the north?’

“Our lads don’t have to go down to a Doncaster or a Cov where it is too far to train whereas they could nip across 45 minutes, we can supply them with some good players on a semi-permanent, dual-registered basis and they get the best level of rugby closer to home, so they have got a decent support base and don’t have to travel all the time.

“Matt Cairns has been in, he is bringing his coaches down over the pre-season, we are in the process of arranging our first warm-up game against them down at their place to have a drink and fully integrate ourselves with Caldy as we were with Sale FC.

“We will still use FC because we have a big batch of academy players coming through, so FC still hold a good position and prospects for some of our young lads but for those who need that level up under Premiership then Caldy is probably is the next step.”

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Emerging out of a pandemic that put a stop to so much rugby at developmental levels, how important it is for promising youngsters at a Premiership club such as Sale to now get as much game time as possible to accelerate their progress?

“They reckon 15 to 20 games is the sweet spot for these lads to physically develop in the gym and get the learnings on the field,” continued Sanderson. “It was the same for the lads who played for FC, we got to Christmas time and we just couldn’t get them into a place unless they were training full-time.

“We couldn’t get them Coventry, couldn’t get them into Donny which is fair enough because you want your lads there on a Tuesday, Thursday night to play at the weekend.

“That wasn’t the case with Caldy so much and it wasn’t the case with FC, they could train with us and go down on Thursday for the one session and play. Elliot revelled in the most consistent rugby but go through the list, Ethan Caine, Joe Bedlow, Connor Doherty, James Harper, Callum Ford, Jack Metcalf, Joe Carpenter, Nye Thomas…  all of them who played Nat 1, got their 15, 20-game stint in that league and it brought them on.

“It kept them involved, it kept them learning. We have now sent five lads out to Australia to Sydney to play another eight to ten fixtures to make up for that covid period and we will get them back mid-pre-season. We thought their best development would be on the rugby field and not in the gym over the course of pre-season.

“Rugby is the best way to learn, not doing drills, not just getting big and strong. It’s getting out there and playing men’s rugby so it is great for them, it’s a big part of the long term plan, to get games under their belt.”

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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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