The second in this three part round up piece of the off season ventures of the teams I support will focus on the Sale Sharks and in particular the Steve Diamond revolution that is going on at Edgeley Park. With 25 players leaving the club and as of now 16 coming into the club a revolution is for once the right way to describe the off season antics. Diamond has a mission which is to get the team bigger, stronger and more physical than they have been over the past few seasons.
While the team had several key injuries and player omissions due to internationals and discipline reasons this was a group of players that had severely underperforming and was massively over paid. When Diamond arrived half way through the season after the departure of Mike Brewer he gave the squad an open challenge to basically ‘man up’ and prove you are good enough.
Of the 25 players leaving I can genuinely say I am only really concerned about four. Charlie Hodgson will be a huge loss to the team, Carl Fearns could be a future England captain, Paul Williams was one of the few bright spots in a poor season and Kristian Ormsby is a quality international that has suffered through injury. Of the rest I would rather have Chris Jones as he has been a great servant to the club and Effion Lewis-Roberts is a beast up front and Chris Bell is the epitome of a professional athlete but has never had the top end talent and Ben Cohen still had at least a year left but his decision to retire has quelled any nerves on that front. The rest are a series of average club players or non effective foreign players that have never lived up to there billing.
The players brought in are very intriguing, there is a good mixture of seasoned veterans and exciting young prospects that could see Sale moving in the right direction again following several years at the foot of the Premiership.
The front row has certainly been bolstered with the arrival of a number of big men. Tony Buckley, Joe Ward and Alasdair Dickinson will certainly bring power to unit that was severely stretched last season. Ward will likely split time with the impressive Neil Briggs and Dickinson and Buckley will join a prop core with the likes of Andrew Sheridan and the impressive young duo of Lee Imiolek and Henry Thomas.
The rest of the pack has also had a drastic makeover, there are only three regular second or back row forwards retained (Wame Lewaravu, James Gaskell and David Seymour) and seven new players, almost half of the new recruits, will join the revolution either at the start of the season, or possibly in the case of Richie Vernon, Andy Powell and Hendre Fourie after the World Cup. Joining them are Frasier McKenzie, Kearnan Myall, Andrei Ostrikov and Mark Easter.
The new players in the backs will hopefully bring an increased flair and precision to the team that was really lacking last season. Scott Mathie will compete for time at scrum half and could be a valuable addition if Dwayne Peel is selected by Wales, he can also play at fly half which is a position that Sale are still to properly address.
Tasesa Lavea is certainly an exciting prospect and can also cover the fly half position but has been a better centre throughout his career, also brought into the centre are the New Zealand powerhouse Sam Tuitupou and Luther Burrell who has risen through the National Leagues before impressing last season with Leeds. These will join Rob Miller, Kyle Tonetti and Iain Thornley in what could be an exciting midfield if good quick ball can be secured.
The final addition (as of right now as three more players, all backs, are to be announced with Argentinean Joaquin Tuculet rumoured to be joining this week and Ben Blair also being touted) is the speedster Charlie Amesbury, a wing/full back who has 25 Premiership appearances under his belt. Add to this the return of former Grasshopper Tom Brady from injury and the impressive Will Addison along with the experienced Nick Macleod and club captain Mark Cueto (who will be representing England at the World Cup) and a dynamic and well rounded set of players could once again set Edgeley Park, or a new stadium, alight).
So a post World Cup side;
Sheridan, Ward, Buckley, McKenzie, Myall, Gaskell, Fourie, Powell, Peel, Miller, Brady, Tuitupou, Burrell, Cueto, Amesbury. Replacements Thomas, Briggs, Seymour, Vernon, Mathie, Lavea/Miller, Macleod
World Cup Side;
Dickinson, Ward, Thomas, McKenzie, Lewaravu, Myall, Gaskell, Easter, Mathie, Miller/Lavea, Brady, Tuitupou, Burrell, Amesbury, Macleod. Replacements - Imiolek, Briggs, Ostrikov, Seymour, Cliff, Miller/Lavea, Addison
One final note is that Sale has announced a dual registration with Leeds Carnegie. This is a wonderful thing as Sale have taken four of Leeds best players after they were relegated and not only will they benefit from some of the young players that Sale can lend them but those players will get a chance to play in a very competitive Championship league rather than the Jets. Yes the Jets and the loaning of players to lower league, Grasshoppers if you don’t mind, must continue but players such as Iain Thornley will really benefit from playing with Leeds.
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