Sale Sharks programme - 2021

SALE SHARKS
Sale and England scrum-half Raffi Quirke
Last season’s
Gallagher Premiership
'semi-finalists, have
had a more testing
start to the 2021-22
season, coming into today’s game
at third-bottom in the table.
The Sharks have won three of their
nine league games, sitting three
points and three places behind the
Falcons ahead of this afternoon’s
so-called ‘northern derby’.
Last season had brought major
change to the only other
Premiership club north of Leicester,
with long-time director of rugby
Steve Diamond leaving the club and
being replaced with former Sharks
back-rower Alex Sanderson.
The change seemed to signal an
upturn in their fortunes as they
ended last season strongly, finishing
third in the regular-season
standings with 16 wins from 22
games.
A relatively quiet summer in the
transfer market brought a degree of
stability to a squad with a heavy
South African influence, hooker
Tommy Taylor returning to the club
after a few seasons away with
Wasps.
Highly-rated tight-head Nick
Schonert joined from Worcester
Warriors, while Simon McIntyre
continued the front-row focus as he
arrived from Wasps.
44
With the Sale having had a bye week
during Gallagher Premiership round
10, their most recent league
assignment going into the European
window was a 25-14 defeat at
Saracens, part of which was played
with 14 men due to the red card
shown to winger Byron McGuigan.
He misses this afternoon’s encounter
due to the accompanying three-match
ban – his side’s last league victory
coming back on November 6 when
they hammered Northampton Saints
30-6 at home.
The campaign had begun in promising
fashion, the Sharks chiselling out a
20-19 home victory over Bath in which
the West Country side missed a lastminute
penalty.
There was entertainment aplenty in
round two when the Sharks drew
31-31 at London Irish, the Exiles
hitting the post with a long-range
penalty at the death as Sale allowed a
31-14 half-time lead to slip.
USA fly-half AJ MacGinty suffered an
injury during that game, and the
Bristol-bound pivot was a big miss for
the Sharks as they fell 25-15 at home
to Exeter Chiefs in round three.
They continued to be good
entertainment value with another highscoring
nail-biter at Gloucester, when
a last-minute missed penalty allowed
the Cherry and Whites to escape with
a 33-32 victory at Kingsholm.
@FalconsRugby
Two tries from England scrum-half Raffi
Quirke got their show back on the road
with a 28-22 home victory over
champions Harlequins on October 15,
before a bruising trip to Welford Road
saw them beaten 19-11 at the current
league leaders.
A 27-14 loss to Worcester Warriors was
arguably the low point of their league
campaign on October 30, before
steadying the ship with a convincing
home win over Northampton.
Newcastle Falcons have of course
already faced today’s opponents once
this term, when Sale were 25-20
winners in Premiership Rugby Cup
action on November 19.
Both club’s line-ups will have changed
considerably since then, not least with
the return of their international stars.
Joining their vast collection of capped
South African internationals, they have
recently added further England honours
with call-ups for scrum-half Raffi Quirke
and prop Bevan Rodd, adding to the
firm fixture of back-rower Tom Curry in
the red-rose ranks.