A leading Premiership director of rugby is predicting a backlash from English clubs this weekend after a largely disappointing set of results in the opening round of the Champions Cup. Sale’s Alex Sanderson is preparing to welcome back his “big four” international contingent for the visit of Racing 92 on Friday and believes the game could kickstart a collective English revival.
Six of the eight Premiership sides in round one action were beaten last weekend but, despite Sale’s opening defeat in Glasgow, Sanderson still insists there is sufficient quality in England to make an impact on this season’s tournament. “There are good enough players and good enough teams, definitely,” said Sanderson, who is set to recall his England quartet of George Ford, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Ben Curry, and Tom Roebuck.
“I think you’ll see a change of results this weekend and we obviously want to be part of that turnaround. But first of all there has to be a realisation about the consistency of intensity required in this competition. I don’t think many of the English teams were far off but you don’t have to be far off, given the level of competition and opposition, for the scoreline to blow out.”
To aid his players’ recovery before the Racing game, Sanderson has taken them to the UK’s biggest sauna in Manchester, the idea being to refresh tired bodies both physically and mentally. “I’m certain that them having a laugh helps them recover faster on a six-day turnaround. They can have informal conversations over brunch in the sauna in the truth chamber as opposed to having to listen to me droning on in front of a screen.
“It’s the most wonderful time of the year, if you ask me. You’re in the mixer in two really important competitions and the next nine weeks will be the making of our season. I’ve said that to the lads. I’m loving that challenge … flying in and out, short turnarounds, playing mega teams. You’ve just got to roll with the punches and stay ahead of any emotional lows that people get at this time of the year.”
Even in the absence of the injured Owen Farrell, however, Sale know they will need to raise their game appreciably against Racing. “There are no illusions now about what is required,” Sanderson said. “We came off the back of a really good performance against Leicester and even those standards weren’t good enough against Glasgow away last week.
“If we want to win or get to the latter stages of this cup there are certain areas of our game we’ve got to level up. [But] being part of a team that goes up against teams with a bigger support base and more spending resources and being able to win against the odds or a super-computer’s predictive powers … there’s no better feeling that that.”
