Tag: rugby

Posted in match reports

View from the south stand: Sale 64 Ampthill 0 [PRC]

Posted on by an old grey dog

I’ve said before that I don’t enjoy watching one-sided matches. Thankfully, this should be the last weekend of them, both domestically and in that competition going on over in France.

This week alone has seen scores of 64–0, 98–14, 68–10 and 82–12.

Does either team get anything out of this sort of mismatch, other than game time? Is it really the case that being on the wrong end of a drubbing is a “good experience”? It’s one thing to lose but feel that you gave a good account of yourself (q.v. Caldy last week); it’s something else to be totally outclassed: that has to be demoralising.

And what about dishing it out? Do you really learn anything about your own capabilities? What does beating up a part-time scrum tell you about how you’re going to get on when Northampton come calling?

These sort of drubbings against what should be closely matched teams concerns me at times. It suggests that there is a superficiality to the game, both nationally and internationally. All looks great at the top, but one level down is too far away in ability for it to be healthy.

I don’t have any answers, it’s just that the sorts of mismatches that have happened over the last few weeks (not to mention the collapse of three Premiership clubs in one season) expose, I feel, a systemic problem in the world game. And that makes me less than sanguine about the future.

Rant over, back to business.

First off, let’s hear it for Ampthill. Outclassed, maybe, but they never gave up and even had some genuine opportunities right at the end. They could have put points on the board with a couple of penalty awards late on but chose instead to go for the big prize. After all, what’s the difference between 64–0 and 64–3? But to pull a try back: that would have been something to take home. That they didn’t manage it is – almost – irrelevant: the heart was there.

For Sale, Cobus marching out in the second half was the highlight for me – he can make (and made) a big difference. It leaves us a Curry or two short of our ideal back-five selection pool but we’re in a good place. Tommy Taylor’s return eases a few worries about the pack: Ethan Caine is a real prospect but we do need an old, wise head around and with LCD a doubt and Creevy still in France, TT gives us a stable base in the front row.

Raffi’s looking sharp again. It’s going to be a major battle between him and Gus for the starting spot, especially given Gus’s obvious ability from the tee now making him a viable back-up kicker.

On the downside, though, I counted some six butchered chances at the start of the second half. All of them – if I remember correctly – dropped balls just metres from the line. This is a bit concerning because we won’t get away with that when the proper games start up next week. Basic skills, guys, basic skills.

Looking back at the last five weeks, we’ve seen some younger and fringe players given the chance to show what they can do and, almost unanimously, putting their hands up to say “I’m here, and I’m good enough”. We have some good talent coming through; I’m looking forward to watching them make their marks in the Premiership in the coming seasons.

We’ve also given the established guys a chance to blow off the cobwebs and, apart from a – by the sounds of it – sub-par performance against Newcastle and the butchering of chances here, things seem to be ramping up nicely ready for the real tests to come.

And on that note: Northampton come calling next up. We beat them here last year but, if memory serves, it was not entirely comfortable. I’ve got a bit lost over the summer concerning who has picked up whom; who has made major improvements to the squad; and who we should be watching out for this year (usual suspects aside).

Given that we have Leicester away and Exeter away in rounds two and three, we could really do with getting off to a good start in this game, and the Super Accurate Magic Predictor™ gives us some hope:

SAMP–5Sale 26 – 15 Saints
SAMP–10Sale 22 – 15 Saints

Can’t wait…

Posted in match reports

View from the Birtles: Sale 36 Leicester 19 [APCup]

Posted on by an old grey dog

It’s always good to beat Leicester and the Sale Sharks women did so in some style to kick off a new season. Despite a shaky first ten minutes, which saw Leicester take a 7-0 lead, Sale found their composure, drew level within a couple of minutes, and never looked back.

It’s hard to draw conclusions from a single game but I think I see a bit more composure – a year-on-year overall improvement in the play as they get more experience and become more comfortable with each other.

I’m still working on recognising everyone – a task not helped by several new faces this season – so I’m going to miss out on mentioning players who should be mentioned. Apologies: I’ll get there eventually…

With an expression that suggests she’s not so much chewed a wasp as fricasseed it in hot sauce, tall Vicky Big Vick continues to stand out in more ways than one. Seemingly at the centre of everything, she played a significant part in Niamh Swailes’ try as well as bludgeoning through the entire Leicester defence to score a try of her own.

Talking of Niamh Swailes, she showed a decent turn of speed to score Sale’s second try. An outside centre would have been proud of that.

Usual suspects: Katana Howard, Hollie Bawden; Lizzie Duffy showed some good pace on the counter-attack to feed Hollie Thorpe for her try.

Onward and upward. Meanwhile, have some pictures.

Posted in match reports

View from the summer: 2023-24 preview

Posted on by an old grey dog

I don’t know about you, but I’m still feeling pretty chipper off the back of our most successful season since 2006. It was a great ride, culminating in a fabulous weekend for the Premiership final and now it’s time to do it all again. What’s in store for next season?

Content warning: ranting.

I’m going through changes*…

I haven’t found a definitive list of ins and outs, yet, so this section will be hopelessly incomplete. I do know, though, that, in terms of players released versus players brought in from outside, we have massively reduced the squad this year. Something of the order of thirteen out, five in, I believe.

I don’t know to what extent the deficit will be made up by guys coming up from the academy but I hope that’s the plan: I like the idea that we’re building a club from within. A team of guys who’ve come through the system; who, by the time they’re breaking into the first team, have already spent several years in the company of the established players. Add a teaspoon of outside spice to liven up the mixture and I think you’ve got something that’s effective, productive and sustainable.

The bulk of the departures have been what you might call ‘fringe’ players: guys on the edge of first-team selection but who, for whatever reason, never managed to achieve consistency there. That’s not to denigrate their contribution or talent, it’s just to point out that there has actually been little change in the core first-team squad, so we have a lot of continuity going into next season.

Of all the departures, I think we might miss Coenie the most. Losing Akker is significant and probably the biggest blow in terms of actual gameplay, but we’ve replaced him with a Lion, fergoodnessake, so the impact on-field shouldn’t be felt as keenly. But losing Coenie without replacing him leaves us, I think, a bit short at tighthead. James Harper and Cal Ford are fantastic prospects and at least one of them will be first choice in a couple of years; but not quite yet. We’re one down and, whilst Joe Jones is more than capable in that position, I’d like to see some gnarly old bugger who’s been around the block a couple of times in the mix.

Talking of gnarly old buggers: Agustín Creevy at hooker. LCD might be the big name, headline signing, but Creevy is a wily old sod, and I think picking him up was an act of genius, not least for the good it will do for the likes of Ethan Caine and the academy hookers coming through the ranks.

The back row I’m not worried about, despite Jonno’s retirement. I suspect his presence will be missed around the club but, on the field, we have the Currys and the du Preez’s as well as some decent understudies coming through. I’m very interested to see van Rhyn play, though.

The backs are pretty much business as usual: Veianu in for Byron but otherwise as you were. I’m definitely looking forward to the battle for ownership of the number nine shirt.

Premiership

I sometimes wonder if the ‘great and the good’ of the English game are actually interested in marketing it as a product. Because, if they are, they’ve got a funny way of demonstrating it. Eight rounds crammed in between 13th October and 3rd December, then the remaining ten rounds between the end of December and sometime in May. We will get, if we’re lucky, one home game a month from January.

If you include the Prem Cup, we have the opportunity to get bums on seats regularly and frequently between September and Christmas. A whole slew of (possibly new) punters getting a game every other week and getting used to coming down on the regular.

And then what? “Yeah, well, we’ll let you know when the next one is. And, by the way, there’s going to be a huge gap in fixtures whilst the big boys run around on telly.”

Look, I know it’s a World Cup year and that throws a spanner in the works. I mean, kudos for delaying the start of the Premiership until after the group stages, so we’ll at least have our England players back, and I appreciate that using the Prem Cup to fill that gap makes it more difficult to use it to fill the Six Nations period, but to have nothing going on? I can imagine all the club owners tearing their hair out wondering how they’re going to convert casual spectators into the sort of idiots that will write frothing rants about the state of the game but will still turn up in all weathers.

And breathe…

As far as Sale’s prospects for this season, I’m going with the Wasps fan I was chatting to in the bog after the final: “You’ll be back next year and you’ll probably win it”. There’s been a lot of squad shuffling around the league, especially following the demise of London Irish, but I think we can handle any of the other teams, even Saracens. Looking forward to another trip to Twickenham in June.

Europe

Coming second in the Premiership was supposed to give us a more favourable draw in the Champions’ Cup: at least that’s how the seeding system has worked for the past couple of years.

But the past is gone, it’s now the Century of the Fruitbat, South Africa is part of Europe and a simple cup competition becomes an exercise in advanced combinatorics that would have Euler reaching for his abacus†.

The upshot of this is that, far from being able to plan a nice trip to, say, Italy, we find ourselves in a group of death, playing matches home or away, instead of home and away. I mean, you console yourself with the thought that at least we should get a nice trip to Paris or La Rochelle but…

… You’d be mistaken. See, when you’ve got three pairs and the members of each pair play the other pairs, then only two of the pairs can have a home and away from each of the pairs they play. One of the pairs has to play two home against one and two away against the other (see? I said it got a bit mathsy). As it is, it’s the Premiership pair (us and Leicester) who get two homes and two aways. And – and it’s at this point I just accept that the universe hates us – it’s Leicester who get the jollies in France.

I know I shouldn’t be, but I’m always taken aback by the ability of organising committees — at all levels, from government down to village fêtes — to make a right dog’s breakfast of almost anything. It must be the need to preserve their own relevance.

Pre-pandemic, we had a perfectly workable system in which we got three away trips, in October, December and January. It was simple, easy to understand and the fans loved it. Then, with the pandemic restrictions and abbreviated seasons, it got reduced to only four league games and an entirely unnecessary “round of 16”. OK, we put up with it, but the return to normality could have been accompanied by a return to the previous – working, well-liked – system. OK, maybe you keep the existing one this year because of the World Cup, but go back to the old way next season.

But, no. Can’t have that. Let’s just make a complete pig’s ear of it by keeping all the bad bits of the pandemic system and bringing in none of the good bits of the old one.

I despair. At least there’s a weekend in Dublin to look forward to…

Sorry, it appears the long, rugby-free weeks of summer have had an adverse effect on my tolerance for pillocks. I think it’s because I’ve been watching cricket and the way that’s being marketed (especially the Hundred) makes me wonder why rugby can’t market itself similarly. You come from that to the way the two main club rugby competitions are run and you can end up screaming “Where are the grown-ups?” into the void…

Not long to go now, though: back into the groove, regain some equilibrium and look forward to kicking on from last season and building something special here.

* Spot the Black Sabbath fans: they heard Ozzy sing that line.
† One for the geeks, sorry (not sorry).