The salary cap is down to just £5 million and the number of marquee players is down from two to one, which will lead to a significant amount of change around the Gallagher Premiership. This will be Sale Director of Rugby Alex Sanderson’s first proper recruitment push since he took over from Steve Diamond in January 2021 and this is his opportunity to start moulding the squad in the way he wants to. Let’s look position-by-position at what the squad might look like next season:
LOOSEHEAD PROP
Bevan Rodd has asserted himself as the definitive number one loosehead prop over the last 12 months, usurping Ross Harrison for the starting role. Rodd is already an England international at the tender age of 21 and should be a linchpin of the Sale for at least the next decade. The futures of both Harrison and Simon McIntyre are both in the air going into next season. Harrison is believed to be in the final year of his contract this season and there are concerns that he is not playing at the standard he once was. The days of Harrison starting nearly every game and being absolutely essential to Sale due to a lack of depth are over because of the incredible development of Rodd. Perhaps the volume of rugby that Harrison has played for Sale since he broke into the side at the age of 19 has taken its toll on his body. McIntyre signed a one-year deal when he returned to the club in 2021 so his future is very much up in the air. One of Harrison or McIntyre, more likely to be the latter, might leave at the end of the season so a new looshead prop could be on the shopping list.
HOOKER
Sale have a plethora of talent at the hooker position with four fantastic players; Akker van der Merwe, Ewan Ashman, Tommy Taylor and Curtis Langdon. Both Ashman and Langdon have made their international debuts for Scotland and England respectively over the last 12 months. Ashman, still only 21, has an incredibly bright future and his ceiling is very high so should be a priority to keep. All four are great hookers and good enough to be the starting hooker. The difficulty however with having all four is keeping them all happy when they all will rightly believe they should be starting. Although it is great for the club to have four top quality hookers it is perhaps not sustainable and one might leave at the end of the season. Taylor returned to the club last year and is currently in the first year of a three-year contract. Van der Merwe is believed to be contracted until 2024.
TIGHTHEAD PROP
Nick Schonert has been a very astute signing from Worcester this season and he is currently the number one. It has been a huge shame that young James Harper, a very talented 21-year-old tighthead prop who Director of Rugby Alex Sanderson has already tipped to play for England in the next few years, has missed the whole of this season to date as he would seemingly have been second choice behind Schonert. Coenie Oosthuizen’s future is probably in serious doubt as he is into the final year of the three-year contract he signed back in 2019. Oosthuizen hasn’t quite lived up to expectation as a 30-cap Springbok prop who can play both sides of the scrum. His scrummaging has not been particularly strong and perhaps the expectation was that he would have a similar impact to the one Vincent Koch has had at Saracens. Although unlikely to be on a huge salary, Oosthuizen’s potential departure could open up some decent cap space and a new tighthead prop should be recruited. Joe Jones has recently returned to the club after a few years away in the Championship and has made a solid impact upon his return.
SECOND-ROW
Second-Row is probably the position that will see the most change going into the 2022-23 season. Sale have already confirmed the statement addition of England and British and Irish Lions lock Jonny Hill from Exeter Chiefs. The club has also recently brought in Dom Barrow out of retirement and England Under-20 lock Alex Groves from Bristol Bears with immediate effect in recent weeks. On the departure front, South African lock JP du Preez is going to Glasgow Warriors next season and there could be a few more second-rows leaving in addition to du Preez. Lood de Jager is heavily rumoured to be returning to South Africa at the end of the season due to personal reasons, James Phillips is either set to leave or retire and Josh Beaumont’s future is uncertain. Beaumont, linked with a reunion with Steve Diamond at Worcester, has had an injury-ravaged few years and during a restrictive salary cap era where every pound matters he could be a casualty. There is no doubting Beaumont’s rugby playing ability his commitment to the club as a local lad, however with the restrictions that the salary cap has and will cause one has to question whether he worth keeping. Perhaps the recent arrivals of Barrow and Groves are foreshadowing the exit of a player like Beaumont. Cobus Wiese is still under contract and will remain an important cog in the second row.
BACK-ROW
Back-Row is very likely to stay stable and should have a very similar look next season. Sanderson confirmed a few months back that the du Preez twins, Dan and Jean-Luc, were happily staying. The Curry twins are essential parts of this Sale team for the next decade. Cam Neild and Sam Dugdale have both acquitted themselves very well when called upon and should continue to be a part of this squad. The future of club captain Jono Ross is perhaps the only uncertainty within the back-row. Ross has been a hugely influential signing since joining back in 2017 and has been the captain for the majority of his time at Sale. However, with emergence of the Curry twins and the arrival of the du Preez twins he has dropped down the pecking order and his importance to the team is not what it once was. Having said that, his form of late has been back to near his best. It would probably not be a surprise if he were to reunite with Steve Diamond at Worcester. Ross is still the club captain but when everyone is fit and available he is behind both Curry’s and both du Preez’s. With the money that he is probably on it could be that significant cap space could be opened up by his departure. England Under-18 international Tristan Woodman is a name to look out for in the coming years.
SCRUM-HALF
The master Faf de Klerk has arguably been one of Sale’s best and most important signings in the club’s history since he arrived in the summer of 2017. His apprentice Raffi Quirke’s rise over the last 12 months has simply been incredible and he is most definitely a generational superstar talent. The double punch that they provide is an incredibly valuable weapon for the club. However, de Klerk’s future is uncertain with Alex Sanderson admitting that due to the salary cap reduction it could be a struggle to keep de Klerk away from the fortunes of Japan. It seems that de Klerk could be set to move to Japan at the end of the season to take up an offer of nearly £1 million per year, an offer that under the current salary cap restrictions the club cannot match. It would undoubtedly be a huge blow to lose a player of de Klerk’s calibre considering the impact he has had on the club both and off the field but Sale would be well-equipped to deal with it with the rapid development and progression of Quirke who is already an outstanding scrum-half and capped by England at the tender age of 21. Quirke is very much ready to take on de Klerk’s mantle having learnt a huge amount from him playing and training alongside him week-in, week-out. Will Cliff, believed to be in the final year of his contract and now 33, could be coming towards the end of his career. Young guns Gus Warr and Nye Thomas are two exciting young 9’s but are still both quite inexperienced. If de Klerk is to go to Japan at the end of the season, a replacement would be needed to maintain the double punch at 9 that the team currently possesses. Quirke will clearly be the number one, but competition and another quality option at the position should be recruited.
FLY-HALF
The Fly-Half position will see a significant change next season as AJ MacGinty will depart for Bristol Bears and George Ford will return home to the north-west from Leicester Tigers. Despite the sadness at losing MacGinty who has been a key part of this Sale team for the last 6 years, the arrival of Ford is an incredibly exciting one. Ford has arguably been in some of the best form of his career this season for Leicester and the prospect of a 9-10-12 English trio of Raffi Quirke, Ford and Manu Tuilagi is a tantalising one. MacGinty will be missed but Ford is arguably a significant upgrade and all Sale fans will be incredibly excited to see him at the AJ Bell next season. The addition of Ford is certainly a statement signing ahead of the 2022-23 season. Rob du Preez has played exclusively in the 13 jersey in recent months rather than his usual position of fly-half but is obviously a reliable and experienced option in the 10 jersey. The club has a number of exciting prospects at fly-half in Kieran Wilkinson and Tom Curtis, both in their early 20’s, as well as England Under-18 international Charlie Wardle coming through the ranks.
CENTRE
Inside centre Manu Tuilagi will be relishing a reunion with George Ford next season, whom he has played a lot of his career with at Leicester and with England. Despite his injury issues, Tuilagi is one of the best centres in world rugby and is a game-changing player. Rohan Janse van Rensburg has experienced a rich vein of form in recent months and Sanderson will want to maintain the double punch at inside centre of van Rensburg and Tuilagi. The only question mark for Sanderson in regard to the inside centre position is during a reduced salary cap era, can the squad afford to have two injury-prone 12’s? Sam Hill’s future looks doubtful after a very frustrating couple of years at the club having joined from the Exeter Chiefs in 2020. At outside centre, Sam James has lost his place in the starting XV to Rob du Preez, who has been deployed at 13 for the last few months instead of his usual position of fly-half. Time will tell whether du Preez will now take up a permanent residence in the 13 shirt with the arrival of George Ford in the summer and whether Sam James can force his way back into the starting XV. Academy graduate Connor Doherty has impressed when called upon in the 13 shirt.
WINGER
Arron Reed and Tom Roebuck have both made a huge impact on the Sale back three in recent months, giving the team much-needed speed on the edge and in outside channels. Both in their earlier 20’s, Reed and Roebuck are not only the future for Sale but also have demonstrated they are ready to have a significant impact in the starting XV now. There has been a changing of the guard on the wing with Denny Solomona leaving mid-season to return to his native New Zealand. Byron McGuigan isn’t getting younger but still has a role to play as an experienced international. Another winger does need to be added to add more pace to the back three in addition to Reed and Roebuck and to provide more depth and competition. Solomona’s departure will have opened up a decent amount of cap space so that creates the money for a new winger. Jack Metcalf and Elliot Gourlay are two of the exciting academy prospects to look out for with the versatility to play across the backline.
FULLBACK
For most of Alex Sanderson’s tenure so far, he hasn’t seemed to settle on a number one 15. However, of late, Luke James has seemed to nail down the 15 shirt ahead of Simon Hammersley. The back three has had an injection of youth and pace with the academy trio of James, Arron Reed and Tom Roebuck all excelling. Hammersley is a good Premiership full-back however in the biggest games in recent season for example the Premiership semi-final against Exeter and the Champions Cup quarter-final against La Rochelle his weaknesses were exposed. Hammersley is believed to still be under contract next season which will probably be his last season at the club. He seems to be currently out of favour having barely featured in recent months with both James brothers preferred at the 15 position. Sanderson also has sung the praises of Joe Carpenter, who was signed from the Yorkshire Carnegie academy a couple of years ago. Carpenter is an exciting prospect who has unfortunately been injured this season but the England age-group full-back is set for a big future. Depending on how close Sanderson deems Carpenter to be to playing regularly in the first team will determine how he approaches recruiting in this position in the next 12 months. An out-and-out top-class 15 should be on the agenda if there is space in the cap.
CONFIRMED SIGNINGS
George Ford
Jonny Hill
Dom Barrow (mid-season)
Alex Groves (mid-season)
Joe Jones (mid-season)
CONFIRMED DEPARTURES
AJ MacGinty
JP du Preez
Denny Solomona (mid-season)
TARGET RECRUITS
Loosehead Prop
Tighthead Prop
Scrum-Half
Winger
Full-Back
Kommentare