View from the south stand: Sale Sharks 13 Gloucester 26

Mike Phillips
By Cap'n Major Bloodnok
September 20 2016

Gloucester were the team that ruined Sale's unbeaten home record last season, by a single point. Was this time for revenge? Certainly, Sale would be wanting to keep a good record at home, if they were to stand any chance of progressing from last season's sixth place. A balmy evening beckoned...

It’s taken me a while to get round to writing this, not for the usual reason of wanting to watch the replay (I don’t and haven’t), but because I really have little idea what to say.

That this was a shocking defeat (not the fact of it, but the manner and margin) is pretty much a given. It was such a seemingly inept display that any Sale fan could be forgiven for wanting to rage in abject frustration (hi, Steve!) at the team, the tactics, the management, the coaches and old uncle Tom Cobbley and all.

Not even the presence of a reasonable pint of beer in the fans’ bar and in the stand (well done the club; let’s hope the take-up is sufficient for it to remain a fixture) could put a gloss on this evening’s entertainment.

It’s not easy to watch your team capitulate at home; it’s made worse by the presence of opposition supporters, and unbearable when they’re being all understanding and sympathetic.

The writing was on the wall in the first twenty minutes; Gloucester looked more capable, had more ball, looked more ‘at the races’ and just generally seemed more composed than a Sale side who were disjointed, fragile and seemingly still in the dressing room.

With McGinty’s hamstring failing him again pre-match, Mugford took on the fly-half role once again and was given an object lesson in the realities of life in the Premiership: from hero to Muggins in seven days. To be fair to him, he seemed to pick up an injury of his own early on, and spent much of the game hobbling around, even handing over the kicking duties to Addison in the second half.

All history will record, unfortunately, is that he missed several kicks and his distribution was wooden and predictable.

Sale finished the games with two 9s at half-back — unfortunate, or bad planning by the coaching staff?

What this match does show, I think, is that, absent McGinty, the loss of Cipriani will prove more significant than many would be willing to admit. Yes, his kicking was flaky, but there are fourteen other players out there, and (in my opinion, anyway) Cipriani’s distribution skills more than made up for deficiencies in his kicking.

I still think it’s too early to get despondent or to start talking of going backwards. It’s certainly too early to start talking of relegation (remember The Nightmare Start? Even then, we recovered to ensure safety without needing Welsh’s points deduction).

I’m clinging to the idea that this is a team still bedding in, still waiting on certain players to be fit again. Three games in, there are positive signs there: Paolo Odogwu has a certain slipperiness about him that bodes well if he can develop without the opposition cottoning on too quickly. Addison is showing signs of a good hunger for the ball and a bit of inventiveness coming inside (just sign!). Phillips, for all the complaints about slow delivery, was a Welsh international and Lion. You don’t get that by being rubbish, even if the hair is going a bit grey now.

So far, we’ve only seen forty minutes of McGinty. I’m not going to panic until I’ve had a much closer look at him and seen how well he does as part of Paul Deacon’s back line.

The forwards are (mostly) carrying on from last season, with Briggsy taking on the #1 No. 2 role flawlessly, hitting his line out targets at 100% accuracy in the last two games. Josh needs to grow into the captaincy and his fluency will return.

No, I’m not going to panic after three games. The team will improve — the rate of improvement will go up and down depending on the quality of the opposition on any week, but we will improve. Whether we improve quickly enough to make another top six finish a reality is in the lap of the gods at this point, but I do believe we will improve, that relegation is not an option and that, if this team can stay together and gain a few canny additions, then they can progress next season (much as we’d prefer it to be this season).

A win against Worcester would go a long way towards settling things down a bit, before a difficult home tie against Leicester.

So no, no panic, just an anticipation (and expectation) of improvement. Ask me again half way through the season…