John Mitchell officially joins Sale

As expected and revealed in The Rugby Paper over a month ago, John Mitchell has taken over as a member of Sale‘s Rugby Strategy Management Board answering an “SOS call” from Steve Diamond.
The former Sharks‘ player helped out during the first two rounds of the Heineken Cup but was under a suspension with the Golden Lions so couldn’t officially take charge at Sale.
The matter has now been handled and Mitchell quit his position as the Lions head coach last week clearing the way for his return up North.
He arrived at Manchester Airport yesterday and was out coaching the club’s players within an hour of arriving at the club’s training ground in Carrington.
He said: “Well, Dimes sort of gave me an SOS call to see what was happening.
“To come over and have a look was quite refreshing as I was able to understand what was happening at Sale and see why the team are in this position.
“So I’ve been talking to Dimes about certain ideas to help move us forward in the past month. I was always committed to coming back. I said to Steve that I wouldn’t let him down. There was a lot of speculation but I was always coming back
“In this situation now at Sale Sharks, the reality is that we are ‘bottom of the log’. It’s not going to be an easy job but I think there are a couple of immediate issues. I think some players need to increase their desire and their performance within the group. They need to have a far greater collective desire to change this and we need to play more pressure football.
“If there is one thing I’ve noticed, it’s probably that we’re playing at the wrong end of the field and we need to create more pressure as a team. We seem to be quite comfortable and enjoy playing with the ball but I’d like to see us get a little more excited without the ball and create more pressure at the right end of the field.”