Sale Sharks- The North West mixed with South Africa
Back in 2017, the arrivals of Jono Ross and Faf de Klerk signalled the start of a South African revolution at Sale Sharks. As many as 9 South African-born players currently ply their trade in the North West of England and have taken Sale onto another level in the last couple of years. When Simon Orange and Ged Mason took over the club in 2016, Sale were operating at around 50-60% of the salary cap and were overachieving by finishing in the top 6 every other season for a number of years. Fast-forward to 2020, Sale currently sit second in the Gallagher Premiership table, looking forward to a Premiership Rugby Cup Final on home soil and a squad full of internationals and World Cup winners. The key for Sale has been combining the local talent produced from one of if not the best academies in the country with the influx of top South African talent, which has taken the club from a top 6 side to a team capable of winning the Premiership.
The South African revolution was kicked off during the recruitment drive for the 2017-18 season when Sale signed South African-born Jono Ross from Stade Francais. Sale Director of Rugby Steve Diamond admitted that he had been chasing the services of Ross for a number of years before finally securing his man in 2017. Not only has Ross been an incredible addition to Sale on the field, but his leadership skills have been crucial to the club. Ross has been the club captain at Sale for the last couple of seasons and is a role model for the rest of the squad. Not long after signing for the club, Ross was already aiding the club in their recruitment drive. Ross suggested to Steve Diamond that the club should look into signing the Lions and South African scrum-half Faf de Klerk, who had fallen out of favour with the national side.
In May 2017, just a month after Ross’ move was confirmed, Sale announced the signing of de Klerk. Very quickly de Klerk became an integral part of the Sale team and within a year of joining the Sharks, he was back in the South Africa team and starring in their series victory over England in the summer of 2018. Since joining Sale, de Klerk has become the best scrum-half in the world and one of South Africa’s most important players in winning the Rugby World Cup last year. Only 18 months after joining the club, despite offers from France in excess of £1 million a year, he signed a new contract at Sale until the next World Cup in 2023 for much less money than what was on offer from French clubs. This is a testament to how much de Klerk has loved his time at the Sharks and the environment and culture created at the club. Not only has de Klerk been a linchpin for the Sale team since he arrived in 2017, he also been a key factor in luring a number of South Africans over to the North West of England.
Only a few months after de Klerk arrived at Sale, one of his former team-mates at the Lions Rohan Janse van Rensburg agreed a short-term deal with the Sharks. Having hugely impressed during his short spell with the club, van Rensburg signed a permanent deal from the start of the 2018-19 season. Van Rensburg has been a real game changer from inside centre, getting the team over the game line and giving forward momentum to the side. Signing van Rensburg on a short-term loan in 2017 was a tactic that Sale repeated in 2018 when signing two of the three du Preez brothers Robert and Jean-Luc from the Sharks in Durban in another display of proactivity. In a very short space of time, both made a huge impact which led to the club being very keen to re-sign them ahead of this season. Not only did Sale secure the services of Robert and Jean-Luc du Preez on long-term deals, they also signed the final du Preez brother, Daniel du Preez, also from the Cell-C Sharks. All 3 du Preez brothers have made a huge impact since signing for the club, buying into the culture and environment created at Sale.
The du Preez brothers formed a part of the huge recruitment drive for Sale ahead of the 2019-20 season. DOR Steve Diamond made a point of saying that like the 2006 Premiership-winning side, he wanted to build a deep squad that had two packs of 8 forwards which would be able to bully opposition sides and get the team moving forward. In addition to the du Preez brothers, Sale signed 3 more big South African forwards to further beef up the pack. Both hooker Akker van der Merwe and prop Coenie Oosthuizen joined the du Preez in moving from Durban to Manchester. Van der Merwe has provided Sale with an all-action hooker who is highly mobile and an aggressive ball-carrier. Oosthuizen, a 30-cap South African international, is a big, physical prop who can play on both sides of the scrum. Probably the highlight of the recruitment drive was the addition of Lood de Jager, a proper statement signing. The addition of de Jager is arguably one of Sale’s best ever signings as he is on an elite level amongst the best second rows in world rugby and is heading into his peak years. If you compare the signing of de Jager to when Sale secured the services of Faf de Klerk, the latter was out of the picture for South Africa when he joined Sale and has gone on to become the world-class player he is today due to his time with Sale, whereas de Jager has signed for Sale at the peak of his powers and is already a world-class player. De Jager already has 45 international caps under his belt, played in two World Cups and started for South Africa in the World Cup Final last year.
There is no doubt that both Jono Ross and Faf de Klerk have played key roles in enticing a number of other South African players to come and join them in the North West of England. A sense of familiarity for these players thousands of miles from their home country has been integral for these players to settle into new surroundings. It is testament to the culture and environment that has been created at Sale that all of these signings have settled in really well and adapted very quickly. Bringing all 3 of the du Preez brothers has been a masterstroke by the club as it would definitely have been easier for them to settle at the club with their brothers by their side, adding to the family feel at Sale with 2 Curry’s, 2 James’ and now 3 du Preez’s. The combination of local talent with South African beef has created the best squad Sale have had since they won the Premiership back in 2006 and has put them in a position to challenge for the Gallagher Premiership title.
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