Win ‘just the start’ for Sale boss Alex Sanderson
Alex Sanderson may have seen his Sale Sharks side record victory in his first game in charge but he is not letting himself get carried away.
The 41-year-old, who ended his glittering 17-year association with Saracens to replace Steve Diamond as director of rugby during the two-week break, was given a perfect start to life in the job as Sale came from behind to beat Leicester 25-15.
Sam James, Cobus Wiese and Marland Yarde all landed tries in what proved to be a comfortable victory for the Sharks, but the Tigers had dominated the first half and led through Tommy Reffell’s try.
Despite the victory though, Sanderson knows his work is only just beginning.
“Winning generally comes as an outcome of getting all the other bits right,” Sanderson said.
“If we got some transference from how we trained, and what we talked about, even just glimpses of it and give us things to build upon and anchor all the hard work we’ve done, I’d have been happy.
“So to get the win on top of that is a bonus, and a good one. But let’s not get carried away, it’s just the start, it’s just a good start.
An easy fix
“We knew we had to win that territory battle. We didn’t do that in the first half, the stats were 70-30 to them. It was an easy fix to ask the lads.
“We were good defensively, let’s use that as a weapon, what can we do better? Play in the right areas. We just identified a few things which helped us do that.”
Sale moved second with the win but Leicester’s three-game winning streak came to an end as they remain sixth on 15 points.
Despite a late try from Nemani Nadolo, Steve Borthwick’s side could not find their way back into the contest and the Tigers head coach was left to rue missed opportunities.
“Unfortunately, when we got into their 22 we didn’t take our opportunities and actually gave them the interception try that gave them seven points, so I think in a sense we couldn’t bend the second half after they got another score through our own mistake,” Borthwick said.
“We couldn’t then put any pressure upon them so we need to learn from this and make sure we don’t repeat those errors.
“The message at half-time was to keep that emphasis on what we felt we’d done very well in the first half.
“Ultimately at the start of the second half, there were two instances where we made an error and gave away a penalty and then we were into our own corner and it was a sin-binning, then seven points against us.”