Sale Sharks have some great supporters. It took their team more than an hour to score their first (and only) try in the 43-13 defeat by Leinster but a TV cameraman found a visiting supporter celebrating as if the try was a potential match-winner and not the most consolatory of scores. Good on the loyal Sale fans who made their way to Dublin, hoping against the odds.
All clubs have a core fan base but Sale’s remains worryingly small. These are the people who don’t care how their team win as long as they do — “any which way” and all that. In the past few years Sale have mixed plenty of power with the odd touch of panache and been among England’s leading clubs. But they have struggled to get anywhere near filling their stadium.
They are still powerful. The mighty scrum that shoved Leinster off their ball and won Sale a penalty within 90 seconds in the Investec Champions Cup quarter-final on Saturday was testament to the respective strength and weaknesses of the English and Irish sides. Sale were competitive at the breakdown. “Brilliant counter-ruck by Sale, result penalty” was scribbled in my notebook in the 52nd minute.
A tepid offensive effort reduced England’s Ford, second from left, to constant kickingSeb Daly/Sportsfile
And then there was the unquestionable commitment of the team. Thirty-seven minutes had elapsed, Leinster were attacking beneath the Sale posts. The visiting pack displayed muscle and discipline to earn a penalty. What was most noteworthy was the fist-pumping reaction of their mastermind, George Ford. It could have been Ben Earl celebrating an England scrum penalty. Sale and their supporters have a surfeit of soul.
Nor do the players have a shortage of physical strength but the team are not winning many matches and they are not gathering the much desired Generation Z of supporters. Why the hell would they when Alex Sanderson’s side play the most predictable, one-dimensional rugby seen since England at the 2023 World Cup? Ford, a player of subtle variation, has seemingly succumbed to a game plan based on the belief that the only way Sale can win is by kicking the leather off the ball. An old phrase, and an old tactic too.
Sale have plenty of injuries, but they also have a back three capable of causing chaos. Their full back, Joe Carpenter, would have had a field day had he been playing for Leinster, so frequently did Sale’s half back boot the ball into opposition territory. As for the England wing Tom Roebuck, he is a renowned chaser of box-kicks, which is just as well because it was all he did.
There was no element of surprise from Sale and nothing much in the way of interest for the neutral fan. After the thrills of the fabulous Bath clash with Northampton Saints on Friday, when Northampton, in particular, played beautiful attacking rugby, here were Sale, offering a paean to predictability. When Ford threw a pass to no one it was no surprise. Someone forgot to switch his pass mode on. With the game long lost he was kicking possession away rather than looking for something special to mask the mundane nature of the Sale performance.
Leinster scored several excellent tries on their way to a win that only highlighted Sale’s lack of ambitionSeb Daly/Sportsfile
Gus Warr box-kicked three times in the opening seven minutes. Rieko Ioane’s susceptibility beneath the kick encouraged the scrum half but with Hugo Keenan back to his best, the more Sale kicked the more they fuelled the ambition of the outstanding Ireland full back.
While the utterly predictable Warr booted everything away, his opposite number, Jamison Gibson-Park, kept Sale guessing. One moment a box-kick, the next a sharp angled break down the blind side. Sale were pulled wide, Max Deegan cut an angle, the defence was shredded, the try scored. Variety isn’t just the clichéd spice of life, it’s a way to win a game of rugby. One side were pathetically predictable, the other varied.
The TV commentator said, halfway through the first half: “Sale have got to get themselves into an attacking position.” He was justifiably referring to the fact that whenever the ball was in Leinster’s 22, it came from a kick, not a carry. The commentator could have swapped “attacking position” for “attacking mindset”.
If you are a seasoned part of the rugby community, there’s solace to be found in the Ford fist-pump and the Sale scrum, but this is insufficient to find the missing fans required to take Sale from middling four-figure attendances to the 10,001 Gallagher Prem ambition.
Sale’s gutsy but limited display will do little to grab the attention of the next generationCHARLES MCQUILLAN/GETTY IMAGES FOR SALE SHARKS
You could pack as many Henry Pollocks into the team as you want but all the wind-ups under the sun wouldn’t bring new fans through the door. Eddie Hearn’s latest signing reminded any doubters that for all his irritating shenanigans, he is a young man with an immense future. When he was yellow-carded for Northampton against Bath there were jeers, but just as many cheers — of relief and respect.
The Saints have the one potential problem. Their stadium will soon be too small to fit in the new generation who want to see the sort of stuff Northampton deliver. Now, try to imagine being a rugby league fan (perhaps you are and, if so, welcome) thinking of swapping Salford for Sale. Why on earth would you adopt a sport where — apart from an undeniable physicality — the prime idea is to kick the ball away?
If you want your sporting kicks in Manchester, who would swap City or United for the tedium of kick and chase? Sale seemed set upon dragging Leinster down to their level, whereas Northampton’s glorious offence forced Bath into a supreme effort of will — and no little skill — to an immense effort and epic game.
I know Sale have injuries but it doesn’t excuse the absolute absence of ambition. The professional age demands excellence and excitement. An old-fashioned display of guts may impress the last generation of fans. It won’t grab the next one.
Saturday afternoon wasn’t just a question of how Sale could win but a matter of the way they played. Any potential North West newcomers tuning into the match wouldn’t have thought, “I must go to Sale’s next home game.” They delivered something inexcusably old and obvious. No newcomers will bother with this turgid offering from the past.