Sam Bedlow
Alex Sanderson said that he was looking to bring an experienced, robust centre and that is what we have got in the form of the returning Sam Bedlow. He left six years ago back in 2017 to join Bristol Bears aged just 21 having not featured many times for the Sale first team. Bedlow is coming back with experience and a well-rounded player. He brings versatility, which is a valuable commodity during a reduced salary cap era. He can play 10, 12 or 13. He will primarily play at inside centre, which is his best position. Due to his time playing at 10, Bedlow has really good hands, is a good goal-kicker and has a big boot on him. He will be 28 at the start of next season so is in the prime of his career. He is home-grown, an EQP and available all season round. With Manu Tuilagi away with England a fair bit and considering his injury record as well, bringing Bedlow back to the club is a very shrewd move. Sam Hill and Ryan Mills are leaving this summer so the signing of Bedlow adding to the likes of Tuilagi and Connor Doherty will give us great strength in depth at inside centre. A proven commodity in the Premiership who brings with him great versatility.
QUOTES FROM ALEX SANDERSON
“We wanted a robust, quality centre who could play a number of positions but primarily inside centre who would complement the age demographic of the squad and epitomise the underlying ethos of what we are trying to build here: fabric of the north. Fan of the club, from Rossendale, his brother Joe is here. In some aspects it’s a fairy-tale story coming home. For us it’s a massive boon because he has gone away and grown coming back a much better player with the experience that he has had at Bristol under Pat Lam. He fits a lot of the gaps within the type of person and player we needed to grow with this side which is relatively young and has years in it. He ticks all those boxes.”
Ernst van Rhyn
Drawing many parallels with when the club signed Cobus Wiese from the Stormers back in 2020, the club has gone back to Cape Town to sign second/ back row Ernst van Rhyn. Like Wiese, van Rhyn has the versatility to play in the second and back row. Like Wiese, he will primarily be deployed for Sale in the second row but also provides a really good option in the back row. He knows Cobus very well having lived and player with him earlier in their careers. He is 25 years old, 6 foot 4 and 18 stone 5 lbs. Being 25 he will be entering the prime years of his career in the years ahead so it's a big statement to bring him over to Sale. He brings with him leadership skills having captained the Stormers on occasions. With Steven Kitshoff leaving the Stormers this summer, van Rhyn would have been likely to have taken over as captain which shows how highly he was rated within the Stormers organisation. You would think he might be in a position in the future to captain Sale, although the Currys’ will have something to say about that! Considering he was a future captain in the making for the Stormers and coming towards the prime years of his career, it highlights how strong a position the club is in on and off the field to bring him to the club. He is a big physical unit and will fit into our style of play. We have had great success with South African units in the back five in the form of Wiese, the du Preez twins and Jono Ross and hopefully van Rhyn will follow suit.
QUOTES FROM ALEX SANDERSON
“Ernst came up and we were like wow, where’s he been hiding? I think it was really good timing on his part as he is getting married this summer, going to have a young family in the years to come and a fiancée who wants to experience life overseas. He admires and is a fan of the Du Preezs’ and how we play the game. That is important. He can see himself having a good support base when gets here which is really important for guys coming overseas.
“I can see he smashes people, he is from good pedigree but you need to know what they are like personally. I asked him what his x-factor was. He said if he scores three tries but he didn’t work hard enough his dad wouldn’t speak to him after a game. I said perfect. His priorities are all in the right place. He is captain material, super polite, courteous. The more polite they are off the field the more of a lunatic they are on it. He fits the bill for us as a marauding, physical, hard-working back five player so he can play four, five, six or seven. He is a good leader, right time in his life and young so he can grow with the squad. Good for him, good for me and it seemed like the perfect fit. It seemed like a match made in heaven and I am looking forward to him coming over.”
Telusa Veainu
He had five years at Leicester between 2015 and 2020 and was a star performer during his time in the Premiership. He has been playing in France at Stade Francais since 2020. He brings versatility given he can play on the wing and at fullback. Especially at the moment with the level of the salary cap having someone with the ability to play multiple positions at a high level is like gold dust. With the retirement of Byron McGuigan and departures of Jason Woodward and Elliot Gourlay, there was a need to bring in someone like Veainu who can operate across the back three. His experience is valuable as well and will aid the development of the likes of Tom Roebuck, Arron Reed and Joe Carpenter, who will all learn a huge amount off Veainu. He is an elusive runner with quick feet and guile. He scored 32 tries in 79 appearances for Leicester. He will know both George Ford and Manu Tuilagi well from their time at Leicester together. Upon the announcement of his arrival, he spoke about his close relationship with Tuilagi and how highly Tuilagi spoke about the club.
QUOTES FROM ALEX SANDERSON
“Telusa was one of the best players in the Premiership while he was at Leicester so we know we’re getting a really good player. But more than that, we know we’re getting a brilliant human too, who will make a massive contribution off the pitch and help this young group develop.”
Hopefully analysis of the potential arrival of Luke Cowan-Dickie will be coming very soon!
We need a tight head, a hooker and a decent winger.