Sarries keen to bounce back at Sale

Editor

Saracens are determined to return to the victory trail when they face Sale Sharks at the AJ Bell stadium this weekend.

Saracens are determined to return to the victory trail when they face Sale Sharks at the AJ Bell stadium this weekend.

That is the word from Sarries’ 36-year-old scrum-half Neil de Kock who believes a win over Sale will steer his side out of ‘uncharted territory’

Saracens have been battling recently and had to settle for a draw with Leicester Tigers in Round Seven of the Aviva Premiership before suffering back-to-back defeats against Northampton and Exeter in the same competition.

And De Kock highlighted the importance of victory against Sale as it will move them into contention with Munster and Clermont-Auvergne.at the top of Pool One’s standings.

“We are in uncharted territory a little,” in the fact that in three games, we haven’t won – but we have a group of guys here who have history of responding to setbacks,” said the former Springbok.

“We were up against a very patient and a well-drilled Exeter team. They gave us nothing to hit, in term of defence, and they played a very clever kicking game. Our error count was high which gave them field position, and I suppose nine penalties tells the whole story.”

Saracens claimed a 40-19 victory over the Sharks earlier this season but De Kock expects a tougher battle this weekend as Sale have won their last three Premiership matches.

The 36-year-old hopes to take the positives from their defeat against Exeter into the clash with the Sharks.

“If we are looking for positives, then the fight back in the second half is something we can take away,” he added.

It’s always a positive that we didn’t roll over and die. We got ourselves back in the game in certain parts, but not enough to challenge them really.

“It was difficult to get out of our own half, and I think we must have had only two or three set-pieces in their half, and it’s difficult to play rugby like that, especially catch-up rugby.”