Sale Sharks boss promises ‘loads more to come’ after win over Saracens

Despite clinching a memorable win against Saracens on Friday, Sale Sharks director of rugby Alex Sanderson believes his side have not reached their potential yet.

Sale sealed their 12th consecutive home league victory courtesy of a narrow 22-20 triumph over the Premiership’s defending champions with Agustin Creevy, Tom Roebuck and Luke Cowan-Dickie while George Ford finished with a seven-point contribution after slotting two conversions and a penalty.

In pole position in the standings

The result means Sale are sitting pretty at the top of the Premiership standings but despite their fine form, Sanderson feels his team is yet to reach their peak.

“There is a sense of relief, but I’m so happy the lads made good of their intentions against a really good Saracens side,” he said. “I suppose it makes Christmas that bit sweeter for us – we’ll all enjoy our Christmas morning now.

“We knew the magnitude of the game of course, and I was delighted with the way the players just revelled in their responsibilities.

“We’re still going well.

“Having said that, in terms of our performance I still think there’s loads more to come from us all. That’s really exciting, isn’t it?

“We still need to be better in all areas of the game because a game’s big moments turn on small hinges and we need to make sure we turn those big moments into our favour as much as we can, but we’ve not hit our straps yet.

“There’s a lot more in us yet I think, and that’s a great thing to be able to say at this stage of the season.”

For Saracens, Owen Farrell led the way with a 10-point haul courtesy of a couple of penalties and conversions to Ivan van Zyl and Gareth Simpson’s five-pointers.

It means Sarries have now suffered back-to-back defeats in the Premiership, after they also lost to Northampton Saints at the StoneX Stadium at the start of the month.

‘Proud and pleased’ despite loss

“We knew it would be a difficult game away at a quality side like Sale,” said Saracens’ director of rugby Mark McCall. “Having said that, I’m proud and pleased of the way we played throughout the 80 minutes.

“The players showed real energy and they kept fighting right until the end, and we almost clawed our way back to claim a victory.

“We’re not too far away, we’re getting there. We’ve got some really tough fixtures coming up, but also we’ve got a few players to come back into the reckoning over the next few weeks.

“We definitely aren’t feeling sorry for ourselves. That’s not the attitude I’m feeling.”

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