Sale will bid farewell to Curtis Langdon and Cameron Neild this summer, with both players reuniting with Steve Diamond at Worcester Warriors next season. It was inevitable that in Diamond’s recruitment plan at his new club it would include looking at some of his former players. Both departures are also likely to be a result of the drop in the salary cap with the lure of more money and game-time significant factors in both players moving to Sixways next season.
Curtis Langdon joined from the London Irish academy in 2016 and has become a dependable hooker for the club during his 6 years at the club. His performances in a Sale shirt last season earned him an England call-up last summer and made his England debut against the USA. There was a sense of inevitability that one of the 4 current hookers was going to leave as it was probably unsustainable to keep all 4 players happy. Tommy Taylor returned to the club last season and has two years remaining on his contract. Akker van der Merwe is under contract through to 2024 and is probably still the number one at the club. Ewan Ashman has already made his international debut for Scotland and has an incredibly high ceiling. Ashman has so much potential and he is the young gun that the club should be backing as he will hopefully be a key player for the club for the next decade.
Langdon has proven himself a consistent Premiership performer, but it could be argued that he is at the ceiling of his potential. That is still a good level to be playing at, but with the exciting talent that Ashman possesses and the experience that Taylor and van der Merwe bring Langdon was the man who was going to miss out. Sale will need van der Merwe to avoid the injuries he has encountered over the last couple of seasons. Langdon’s availability all season long and his injury record have been real plus points in his game. His consistency at the set-piece will be missed, although he is not as destructive in the loose as the likes of Ashman and van der Merwe.
Cameron Neild came through the Sale academy and broke through into the first team in 2014. Although he broke in as a hooker, he transitioned into becoming a back-row. Neild’s days as a hooker were numbered after a notoriously bad performance against Newcastle a few years back. Playing in the back-row has suited his skill-set better and he has excelled in the loose much more than he ever did as a hooker. His tireless work-rate and the body of work he gets through in a game have always outshone his his skills at the set-piece. He has gone on to make 130 appearances for the club and it has been evident in every single one of those appearances that it has meant everything to him to pull on the shirt of his hometown team. His dedication and commitment to the cause should never go unnoticed, even if he hasn’t played every single week.
He has been a consistent performer for Sale, but has slipped down the pecking order due to the emergence of the Curry twins and the arrival of the du Preez twins. Neild is a useful squad option, but is not a regular in the first team. In an ideal world, keeping Neild would be beneficial but in a reduced salary cap era and with the promise of more game-time at Worcester it was going to be difficult to keep him. The club simply cannot offer Neild the minutes he is after and now into his late 20’s, he is clearly looking for a starting position which Steve Diamond and Worcester can offer. When looking at the options in the back-row for next season, the club has the Curry and du Preez twins, Jono Ross and Sam Dugdale in the senior squad. There is also huge excitement about the potential of England Under-18 Tristan Woodman so he would be likely to take up Neild’s spot in the squad. Although losing Neild is a blow to the squad options, the reality is he is not a regular starter and is low down the pecking order so it shouldn’t be too detrimental.
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