Mentor: Neil Briggs

SALE’S success in having eight players named in England’s preliminary U20s squad is down to the club’s pathway DNA, according to academy transition coach Neil Briggs.
Premiership breakthrough trio Luke James, Gus Warr and Ar ron Reed head a shoal of Sharks’ youngsters among the 45- man squad – the largest representation of any club ahead of Exeter (five) and Gloucester, Northampton, Saracens and Worcester, who each have four.
“It’s really pleasing,” former Sale hooker Briggs told The Rugby Paper. “Our pathway works...