ALEX SANDERSON MEDIA SESSION 23/4/25

LUKE COWAN-DICKIE

“He is playing the best rugby of his life, he is like a man possessed. He is settled up north and happy in his private life. All these things have an impact on your playing performance. He is taking every opportunity and leaving nothing to chance in terms of putting the best of him out there. He has ambitions of playing for the Lions and this could be his last chance of getting on a Lions tour. He wants it badly. We have had a bit of a chat [about the Lions].

“We need to manage him; he is one of those who does not tell you the truth on a Monday morning [about how his body is]! We have to try and manage his game minutes more than we have done and that is on me. You have got to treat the players equally but differently. We need to make sure he gets time off with his wife and child. We can only manage the number of games we think we will play, we cannot predict finals but we are contractually obliged to limit the games to 30. There is a wider topic here about player welfare and being on the same page around his wellbeing. Game minutes is on the radar. He does not want to come off the pitch. He will never tell you he wants to come off.”

ASHER OPOKU-FORDJOUR

“If last week is anything to go by he is tracking well isn’t he! He had a week off and then played better than what he was playing before. With these young players they absorb and take it on but not until they rest do they grow. Their minds expand and they come back better again. We need to make sure we give them time when we can in the fallow weeks that he gets some time away. He will never get above his station as his mates and peers will bring him back down to a sense of grounding. I would love him to score a try and beat six defenders every week but I am not sure it will happen. He does have it in him though.

“He has got a shot [at the Lions]. They always take exciting, young props, someone who is a bit of a bolter who does not have much experience that fits the game model. They do though have so

many good, experienced tightheads. He is probably an outside chance but he has a shot.”

NATHAN JIBULU

“How has he not played more games? We can probably assume the reasons why because he signed for us back in October. He was immense when he came on, one of their [Harlequins] best players. I am really excited about him coming but disappointed he knocked Jonny Hill out!

“I spoke to him after the game and he is such a nice lad. It is a bit of a sore point for Harlequins to lose a player of his quality so I was not going to go over and start giving him hugs and rubbing it in their face. You get a vibe off someone over Zoom and he is so humble, driven, understands what he is going after and what he needs to work on. He wants to grow. He is someone I cannot wait to see in a blue shirt. He is coming up with his mum in the next few weeks so I will catch up with him then.”

VALUE OF WILLGRIFF JOHN AND SIMON MCINTYRE TO YOUNG PROPS

“The young lads learn more from their peers than they do the coaches. It is the little conversations they have and the feel in the scrum. If you can fast track cohesion and experience it is through training and conversations. It is part of the succession planning of our props. We have spent a lot of time and resources on getting these props to international standard. Tighthead props are the highest paid players now, especially ones who can shift. We have got a few and a few more coming through the ranks like Tye Raymont, Ralph McEachran and Patreece Bell.”

INJURY UPDATE

Ben Curry- not available this weekend, irritation around an old injury, on his old operation a couple of years ago on his hamstring, bit of metal in his leg where it got pinned which is causing the irritation, surgeon happy with the procedure that was done back in 2023, all physical measurements suggest he could be ok next week, never heard of this injury before, never experienced one in this organisation

Dan du Preez- available this weekend

Tom Curry- no complaints of his wrist, it was saw but he is more than capable of playing through, the scar tissue will strengthen up

Jonny Hill- in 12-day concussion protocol

OTHER NEWS

Multi-layered rigorous process around wellness, physically and mentally, increasingly so at this time of the year more rest at the start of the week, not much physical work done nowadays at the start of the week

Dangerous and foolish to underestimate Saracens, Al knows how dangerous they are

Easy for Al now to put relationships and friendships with people at Saracens on ice ahead of games against them, doesn’t feel like he has been anywhere else now as he has been at the club for three/ four years, Sale is where Al started his career and hopefully where he will end it, if you cut him in half he would bleed blue

George Ford- similar feel to what he had earlier in the season that just affects kicking off the ground, he and we did not want to risk it, his call not to kick from the tee

Inaccuracy and ill-discipline in the first 10 minutes against Harlequins, “we gifted them those early points”, there was a composure and we got into our flow with our attack, we have taken step forward by not spiralling, in-game response was good to conceding early points, always learning from these away games and we had to find form away from home, a great time to find that

Can start to talk about winning the Premiership and having that opportunity to do so, we have the opportunity to affect those around us (Saracens, Leicester and Bristol), destiny in our hands and no-one to blame, makes every game a final, taking it a game at a time

Joe Carpenter- good energy, he gets the ball and sparks our counter attack, beats the first defender so often, his energy on the field is reflected off the field, decisive when running the ball back, fearless in the air, influences massively his peers through his energy and ability, speaks really well, if he continues his development he will be away with England a lot, spoke to Steve Borthwick about his England chances and it is about ‘opportunity’, there is plenty of competition for the England full-back spot, none of them though have greater potential than Joe, “give him a chance Steve!”