In the year 2015...
By LOUD Shark
August 23 2009
Imagine, its 2015 and the Rugby World Cup has come to town. With England winning the vote to host the world cup, and a couple of recent articles in The Times, I got to thinking, how might Sale Sharks be shaping up by that time ?
By the time 2015 rolls around, we will all be that little bit older, and hopefully wiser. I was thinking of all the players that we have in the main squad and the jets for this season, and wondered how many of them, might still be playing for us by the time the world cup rolls around?
James Gaskell "Jamma", has already been tipped by one writer, to be part of the world cup team. But, who might be left to play for us?
I have gone a bit "statto" on this one, so I apologise if I bore anyone to death? I promise it won't happen again! Please don't forget, that this is a whim of my imagination, food for thought so to speak, just for fun?
Most teams, as we know, never stay together without a few changes here and there along the way, but, let us just pretend that we had a choice of the players that we have for this season.
The following squad, positions and ages etc are taken from the official site.
(I have used 35 years old as the bench mark for retiring players for the purposes of this illustration. I am older than that, so please don't go all ageist on me?)
| Sale Sharks | ||||
| Name | Position | D.O.B | Age 2009 | Age 2015 |
| Alex Shaw | Back Row | 31/03/1987 | 22 | 28 |
| Andrew Sheridan | Prop | 01/11/1979 | 30 | 36 |
| Anitelea Tuilaga | Centre/Wing | 06/06/1986 | 23 | 29 |
| Ben Cohen | Wing | 14/09/1978 | 31 | 37 |
| Ben Roberts | Hooker | ? | 6 | |
| Ben Vernon | Flanker | 04/04/1992 | 17 | 23 |
| Brent Cockbain | Lock | 15/11/1974 | 35 | 41 |
| Carl Ferns | Back Row | 28/05/1989 | 20 | 26 |
| Charlie Hodgson | Fly Half | 12/11/1980 | 29 | 35 |
| Chris Bell | Centre | 07/01/1983 | 26 | 32 |
| David Doherty | Wing | 28/01/1987 | 22 | 28 |
| David Bishop | Centre | 22/09/1983 | 26 | 32 |
| David Seymour | Flanker | 27/09/1984 | 25 | 31 |
| David Tait | Back Row | 05/07/1987 | 22 | 28 |
| Dan Birchall | Prop | 02/10/1988 | 21 | 27 |
| Chris Jones | Second Row | 24/06/1980 | 29 | 35 |
| Chris Leck | Scrum Half | 21/05/1986 | 23 | 29 |
| Dean Schofield | Second Row | 19/01/1979 | 30 | 36 |
| Dwayne Peel | Scrum Half | 31/08/1981 | 28 | 34 |
| Eifion Lewis Roberts | Prop | 13/02/1981 | 28 | 34 |
| Gavin Kerr | Prop | 04/03/1977 | 32 | 38 |
| Jack Forster | Prop | 19/03/1987 | 22 | 28 |
| James Jones | Flanker | 26/02/1981 | 28 | 34 |
| Kristian Ormsby | Lock/Back Row | 12/04/1980 | 29 | 35 |
| Lee Thomas | Centre | 02/06/1984 | 25 | 31 |
| Luke Abraham | Back Row | 26/09/1983 | 26 | 32 |
| Mahonri Schwalger | Hooker | 15/09/1978 | 31 | 37 |
| Marc Jones | Hooker | 03/04/1987 | 22 | 28 |
| Marika Vakacegu | Full Back/Wing | 09/06/1983 | 26 | 32 |
| Mark Cueto | Wing/Full Back | 26/12/1979 | 30 | 36 |
| Martin Halsall | Prop | 25/12/1984 | 25 | 31 |
| Matthew Tait | Full Back | 06/02/1986 | 23 | 29 |
| Neil Briggs | Hooker | 01/06/1985 | 24 | 30 |
| Nick Macleod | Fly Half/Full Back | 23/03/1983 | 26 | 32 |
| Oriol Ripol Fortuny | Wing | 06/09/1975 | 34 | 40 |
| Richard Wigglesworth | Scrum Half | 09/06/1983 | 26 | 32 |
| Rob O'Donnell | Prop | 15/12/1985 | 24 | 30 |
| Sean Cox | Second Row | 16/01/1985 | 24 | 30 |
| Selorm Kuadey | Wing | 05/05/1987 | 22 | 28 |
| Sisaro Kayamaibole | Back Row | 06/03/1981 | 28 | 34 |
| Will Cliff | Scrum Half | 17/10/1988 | 21 | 27 |
| Sale Jets | ||||
| Alex Waddingham | Flanker | 17/06/1989 | 20 | 26 |
| Daniel Hall | Lock | 30/07/1991 | 18 | 24 |
| Ed Styles | Full Back/Wing | 07/12/1989 | 20 | 26 |
| Edward Stobart | Wing/Full Back | 18/11/1990 | 19 | 25 |
| James Gaskell | Lock | 20/05/1990 | 19 | 25 |
| James Irlam | Wing | 09/10/1989 | 20 | 26 |
| James Williams | Wing | 07/09/1990 | 19 | 25 |
| Jonny Kennedy | Centre/Wing | 16/02/1990 | 19 | 25 |
| Jordan Davies | Full Back/Wing | 12/03/1990 | 19 | 25 |
| Lee Imiolek | Prop | 21/09/1990 | 19 | 25 |
| Mark Atkinson | Fly Half | 08/03/1990 | 19 | 25 |
| Ryan Glynn | Scrum Half | 27/09/1991 | 18 | 24 |
| Simon McIntyre | Prop | 19/03/1991 | 18 | 24 |
| Tom Brady | Centre/Full Back | 10/02/1991 | 18 | 24 |
| Tom Holmes | Lock | 05/01/1990 | 19 | 25 |
Dark blue indicates the players that would be above the fictional retirement point.
Andrew Sheridan, Dean Schofield, Mark Cueto and Oriol Ripol are the main names that stand out immediately to me. Imagine not seeing Big Ted and Deano, our new captian packing down in the scrum? What about Cuets and Raspberry, not seeing them in their pomp, flying down the wing? Who would replace them all?
Brent Cockbain may not be a big loss in some fans eyes, but, he is at least a big unit, ready to play hard for his team mates? That leaves Ben Cohen, Gavin Kerr and Mahonri Schwalger, not tried and tested for us yet, but, may have turned out to be the players that we need?
Light blue indicates the players that will be nearing the point of retirement.
Sir Charles could be playing his last season at fly half? Chris Jones, Eifion and Dwayne Peel, Imagine, with those guys and Big Ted, and Deano, not, in the forwards? What a big hole they all would leave?
James Jones, may have been a shining star for us, Kristian Ormsby may well have played the best 5 years of rugby of his life? And who is to say that Sisa playing in the back row, would not help to make the most cohesive pack that Sale have ever had?
Whilst it may be true that some Sale legends may leave us at this point, true Sharks each and every one, just cast your eyes over all the potential talent that we still have there. We may not have one of the biggest squads in the premiership currently, but, with Kingsley's vision of home grown talent coming through, not a team of international super stars, like Munster, he has been recently quoted as saying, you can clearly see, that under his leadership, we could become a force to be reckoned with?
Combined with the jets, out of 57 players, we would only be losing between 8 and 15 players. Still a decent sized squad? I am sure that we have all seen clubs with less players than that on their books?
Recent departures have left a lot of fans wondering what will happen to our beloved Sharks in the coming seasons. Perhaps this is one scenario that paints a much brighter picture?
I know this is an idealistic future, where players don't get injured, don't move to other clubs for any number of reasons, and we have a team that gels together and plays for each other, week in week out, but, surely the future is a little bit rosier? As I mentioned before, food for thought...........................................