Another intriguing media session with Sale Director of Rugby Alex Sanderson on Tuesday 3rd May previewing a huge game against Racing on Sunday in the European Champions Cup Quarter-Finals. Sanderson discussed the excitement for the weekend, the learnings from last season’s Quarter-Final and the preparation for the game. Here is what Sanderson said ahead of the weekend:
INJURY UPDATE
“Two thumbs up, everyone who was available is available. Tom (Curry) has come through well. Nick Schonert has a manageable injury but as it stands he is up for selection. AJ is another, Ben Curry has come through well. Manu, Lood and Coenie all good. I find myself in that enviable position where we have got a really strong squad to be able to pick from. I would have liked a little bit more gametime for them but for the most part they are fit and good to go.”
CHARACTER
“Character fortunately this team has in abundance. This team has played some of its best rugby when their backs are against the wall. There are loads of things I and the lads can hook onto about this game that makes it exciting for us. Our opportunity to be able to show who we are in terms of our characters is something that is highly motivating for us. It is down to your own resilience and self-resolve, are you able to handle with one of their lightning bolts, it could be against the run of play so how are you going to react to that next instance. Our ability to stay in the fight despite what they throw at us is key.”
PREPARATION FOR THE GAME
“I would like to think that we have a gameplan and a team that can cognatively fatigue other teams through a physicality and a pressure. This is a team similar in style but better in terms of personnel to Harlequins and Northampton. We have got good records against teams like that which is why we are relishing the opportunity. We know we are the underdogs but we are quite comfortable in that mould.
“He’s (Finn Russell) predictably unpredictable, they are the best players. He functions well off quick ball which they have, he is a run, kick, pass threat. Then he has got an attacking kicking threat, these are just the things he does really well. You never see him get smashed so there is no point doing that. But we have to negate some of the things that make him good, that is the key to it. With any fly half, it is time, it’s space, it’s speed of ball. You have to take that away from him.
“There are going to be elements of our game where you have to roll the dice and take those calculated risks at this level otherwise we become too predictable for a good team like Racing just to figure you out and close you down. We will become too predictable. We will have to take our chances.
“Discipline is huge for us, but European rugby suits physicality more. When physicality meets physicality which it will do at the weekend it will even itself out so long as you are not taking people’s heads off which has happened to us. Effort and physicality won’t be enough on its own, you can’t bully this team because although it is our super strength they have got people who will match you there and go toe-to-toe with you, so we know that. We too have to have the ability to take opportunity when it arises, we can’t just be a one trick pony.”
IMPORTANCE OF BIG GAME PLAYERS
“We have got some great players. At this point in the season wherever you are at you need your best players taking real control and ownership over not just your tactics and strategies but also the motivation and purpose. That is what you have to have or else it will never work. What is lasting and more consistent is if it is driven by the players. We need all of those players as I am putting on them this week to take ownership over that.”
LEARNING FROM LAST SEASON
“We have just talked about the necessity, this group of players what they need at halftime not what the coaches feel. We overdid it in terms of motivation, we were over-motivated coming out of halftime. They came up with very simple moves where they identified space. We were almost over-thinking it. There is a degree of keeping it more about the process at HT and buffering those stress levels so we are able to see a little bit wider so we are able to communicate and stay in the game as opposed to looking at the big screen or thinking about the phase before.”
BIG GAME FOR DEPARTING PLAYERS
“It is them in particular who are driving our purpose (Faf and Lood). They just want to leave here with a legacy of respect, that is the big word for them. Then it is not about the outcome, it is about those thing that we define for them. We are a hard working team, we wear physicality as a badge of honour, the character we show when we are down to 14 men. It will be those two who will be driving it.
“We have got 8/10 lads leaving, so on a weekly basis we are taking the opportunity to say goodbye and say what they mean to us in the right manner which is two days before the game. You are relatively safe two days before a game to have a bit of a blub, have a cuddle and still have that time to get yourself back on track, to internalise and understand what you need in terms of your own mentality. It is something we are leaning on on a weeky basis.”
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