Full-back Joe Carpenter impresses in his 50th Sale appearance and showed why he is hotly tipped for an England callu-p, with Sale ruthlessly putting Newcastle to the sword in a statement 43-10 victory at the Salford Community Stadium.
By Charlie Elliott
There was also plenty of praise for many of his players, including: Tom Curry, Guss Warr, Joe Carpenter and Tom Roebuck, which comes as expected following a very strong performance from his side.
Below, we look at five talking points from the derby match.
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1) Tom Curry back to his best:
A player which has been hampered by injuries recently but has shown some great character to get back to full form. The two Curry brothers showed their full qualities against Falcons and Director of Rugby Alex Sanderson had very high praise when speaking after the game:
“I thought Tom’s first half performance was outstanding, he carried and he got turnovers, put some thumping tackles in. I was really happy talking to Tom as he was coming off.
When they (Tom and Ben Curry) are on form, there’s no better pairing to have in your team, particularly in the back five. They’re a menace, they’re everywhere.
“It’s good to see them smiling.”
2) Carpenter for England?
In his 50th appearance for the club, Joe Carpenter put in yet another stellar performance and will have given Steve Borthwick some serious food for thought regarding whether the full-back should get his first senior appearance for his country. Alex Sanderson said that Carpenter was coming up to the peak of his career and that the best is yet to come. He focused more on the team aspect of the performance rather than individual players, but made it clear that he was very happy with the direction that Carpenter is going right now.
3) Not a lack of effort for the Falcons, but a lack of skill:
Newcastle Director of Rugby Steve Diamond had some damning words to say about where his team is now, following their 25th Premiership defeat in a row:
“We’re going to struggle with the personnel that we have out at the moment. Two or three back from injuried and we might be a little bit different but we can’t control the game at the moment having Ethan (Grayson) playing at 10.
We’ve got a lack of skill in certain areas. We’re not able to convert any possession into pressure and get ourselves in a game and when that happens you don’t get the rub of the green, decisions go against you.
The knowledge and belief is there, but you need the skillset to put it together.”
4) Tom Roebuck to cement himself as an international:
With only a singular international appearance to his name, winger Tom Roebuck will be looking to get another chance for his country, and if he keeps putting in performances like he did against Newcastle, then it seems a matter of when rather than if. Speaking after the match, the Sharks Director of Rugby spoke about the recent improvements he has made to his game:
“He’s been climbing since pre-season and getting tap-backs, but we’ve been telling him actually you need to get the ball back, and claim it in the air.
The last one he catches and scores a try having to go through the man. I of all people know what it feels like when Tom Roebuck’s coming through you! He is really chuffed with that performance for the nature and the style in which he scored those tries.
“He’s putting himself up there for (England) selection, he was in camp last week so he missed a full weeks training and he still plays like that, shows his maturity.”
5) Still some questions about Sale’s depth:
Despite a largely rotated side winning against Gloucester last week, Alex Sanderson still believes there is more that could be done by his backup players following the win against Falcons, and spoke about their importance to the team going forward:
“I made a lot of substitutions which were planned to look after some of our big lads who have been putting big shifts in over the last few weeks. We still have to be better when everyone comes on despite all of those substitutions that we made if we’re going to be ruthless and be where we want to be. I don’t think there’s any lack of intent from the lads who came on.”
