Sale Sharks have been the Premiership‘s nearly men this decade, finishing the top half of the table in all six years, four times making the play-offs and reaching the final in 2023.
But the trophy has eluded them while Exeter, Harlequins, Leicester, Saracens, Northampton and Bath have all taken it home.
There as a time when consistently high finishes would have been regarded as a measure of success at Sale, but not any more.
They have gone from a side that lacked the means to spend up to the salary cap to one of the best backed in the Premiership.
There have tended to stumble taking the final step and director of rugby Alex Sanderson has shaken up his coaching team this summer.
More than that, he is changing the approach on the field so that a side known for its desire to dominate physically becomes more nuanced, like Bath who were the best team in the league by some distance last season, blessed with an all-weather game.
Dynamic pack
“You are going to see a dynamic pack,” said Sanderson. “In the past we might have been physical and set-piece dominant, and you will still get that, but dynamic is a better word than just power.
“We have a dangerous backline. The back three are all internationals, Marius Louw has joined us, Rekeiti Ma’asi-White has been in form and we have George Ford.
“So we will have a dynamic pack and a dangerous backline. I am sure you are going to see an improvement in our rugby smarts: we will not be one-dimensional but a team that can win in many different ways, so smart, dynamic and dangerous.”
Sanderson is expecting new forward recruits Jacques Vermeulen and Nathan Jibulu, right, both players with Premiership experience, to make a difference.
“Jacques has an intensity to get that little detail right and Nathan is some power athlete,” he said, “and probably one of the most mature 22-year olds I have met.”
Former Italy captain Marco Bortolami has arrived as head coach with Joe Ford, brother of George, in charge of the attack.
“They have both had to drive very respectable organisations in the past,” said Sanderson, who said he had changed the way he ran his management team. “Doing away with perceived barriers and hierarchy and authority was something we set out to do from the first meeting. I want us to communicate as peers so we are able to challenge and push each other.”
Ins and outs
IN: Nathan Jibulu (Harlequins), Marius Louw (Lions), Jacques Vermeulen (Exeter Chiefs), Reuben Logan (Northampton Saints), Patrick Hogg (Newcastle Red Bulls)IN:
OUT: Josh Beaumont (retired), Tommy Taylor (retired), Ross Harrison (released), Harry Thompson (Ealing Trailfinders), Jean-Luc du Preez (Bordeaux), Jonny Hill (Racing 92), Will Addison (Sale FC), Connor Doherty (Newcastle Red Bulls)
Squad
DIRECTOR OF RUGBY: Alex Sanderson
CAPTAIN: Ben Curry
FORWARDS: Ethan Caine, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Nathan Jibulu, Tadgh McElroy, Patreece Bell, James Harper, WillGriff John, Simon McIntyre, Tumy Onasaya, Asher Opoku-Fordjour, Bevan Rodd, Hyron Andrews, Ben Bamber, Roubs Birch, Ernst van Rhyn, Ben Curry, Tom Curry, Huw Davies, Sam Dugdale, Dan du Preez, Jacques Vermeulen
BACKS: Raffi Quirke, Nye Thomas, Gus Warr, Will Wootton, George Ford, Robert du Preez, Joe Bedlow, Sam Bedlow, Tom Curtis, Marius Louw, Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, Obi Ene, Tom O’Flaherty, Arron Reed, Tom Roebuck, Alex Wills, Joe Carpenter, Luke James
Fixtures
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