And the Sale Forward of the Season is...

Anglesea in action
By Sarah Braide
June 16 2002

The poll for salerugby.co.uk Forward of the Season is now complete and with 128 votes logged, Pete Anglesea is the clear winner. This week vote for your back of the season.

The results, in descending order, are:

1. Pete Anglesea 44%
2. Iain Fullarton 29%
3. Scott Lines 12%
4. Stuart Pinkerton 10%
5. Kevin Yates 5%
6. Stuart Turner 1%

And for a graphical representation of this, what could be more appropriate than a Sale PIE chart?

Iain Fullarton took a large proportion of the votes after playing for Sale for just a season. But in that season he has helped to turn around the Sale line-out from an embarrassment to a ball winner.Jim and Steve made a great signing there and hopefully he will be at Sale for many years to come.

However it was Pete Anglesea who won the poll with 44% of the votes. This victory comes after a season in which he escaped a 12 month ban for an alleged eye gouging incident, and was unable to play for over three months due to injury.

In September Rob Andrew cited Pete for gouging the eyes of John Dunbar during Sale's match at Heywood Road against Newcastle on 8th September. At the first hearing the RFU imposed a 12 month ban but further medical evidence caused the ban to be overturned at appeal. Injury hit in December and Pete did not return to the game until April.

As one of the hardest working and most consistent Sale players he is justifiably popular with supporters and has finally been granted a chance to represent England as they take on Argentina, beginning next week.

This week you can vote for the back of the season, and then when that is decided there will be final poll for overal Player of the Season. The nominees this week are Jason Robinson, Mark Cueto, Steve Hanley, Mel Deane, Charlie Hodgson and Bryan Redpath. Once again I have had to leave people out because the poll has a maximum of six possible answers. So if you would have voted for Martin Shaw, Dan Harris or anyone else I've left out, then please say so on the messageboard.