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In at the deep end

19/11/2008

THE phrase ‘blooding players’ has taken on a new meaning for Sharks youngsters who have faced a painful introduction to top flight rugby.

With injuries and international duty costing Sharks 16 members of their 31-strong squad, academy graduates are now being fast-tracked into the Guinness Premiership to provide cover.

It has not been an easy transition, as the results show, with six losses in the last seven games - including a 17-9 defeat against Worcester on Friday.

Five Sharks players made their Premiership debuts in that match: Carl Fearns, James Gaskell, Nick Macleod, Rob O'Donnell and Andy Tuilagi.

Director of rugby Philippe Saint-Andre explained: "We knew that to deal with this situation we needed to develop players. We tried to do this in the EDF Energy Cup but you don’t develop a player in two weeks."

The loss of Dwayne Peel, Eifion Roberts, Jason White, Juan Fernandez Lobbe, Rory Lamont, Andrew Sheridan, Lionel Faure and Sebastien Chabal to international duty has been compounded by injuries to key squad members.

New Zealand centre Luke McAlister had to be withdrawn from the side to face Worcester due to a hamstring problem, while Kristian Ormsby and Mathew Tait both had to be replaced during the match, on 11 minutes and 72 minutes respectively.

Sale’s head coach Kingsley Jones said: "We tried to prepare for this [international] period, we recruited for this period and I believe we’ve got a good enough squad to compete in this period.

"But, when you lose Lee Thomas, Luke McAlister, Chris Jones, Sean Cox and guys like that to injury, on top of your international selections that’s when you really get hit.

"We were hoping those guys, as well as Eifion Roberts and Kristian Ormsby, would be the spine of the team in this period."

Out of Sharks’ seven props, three are currently serving their countries in the autumn internationals, while one of those preparing to step up, Martin Halsall, has had to undergo surgery on his knee.

Despite the challenges facing Sale’s young guns, including a trip to London Wasps on Sunday, they are not shying away from the task in hand.

Academy product David Tait, who replaced Ormsby at flanker on Friday, explained: "We’re all gutted, we went out there and gave it everything, but we came up short.

"Personally, if I’m involved, I’m relishing the chance to go to Adams Park and make amends for the result against Worcester. I mean that’s a great way to turn around our season, if we can go down there and get a result.

"Wasps are a massive side so it should be an exciting week. It’s a chance to put things right and get back on track in the Premiership. This week we have to knuckle down and make sure nothing like this happens again."

The defeat on Friday stopped Sharks from claiming top spot and they now lie in sixth place, but they are not out of it yet.

"It is a long season," added Saint-Andre. "The Premiership is a marathon not a sprint. At the end of September we had four wins. It’s painful [to lose] but we’ll get back some points during December, January, March and April."