Sharks in pursuit of big away day catch
SALE talisman Faf de Klerk Still harbours hopes of playing in the next World Cup for South Africa despite his move to the English Premiership.
Sale Sharks director of rugby Steve Diamond has been given a six-week stadium ban for comments made about a referee after their defeat by Exeter.
Half of the ban is suspended, but he will also serve the rest of a suspended touchline ban for previous offences.
The 49-year-old will be banned from the touchline for Sale's next match against Leicester and cannot enter the stadium for any of their following three games.
Sale have been threatened with a points deduction if his behaviour continues.
The 26-year-old has been one of the signings of the season and would surely have added to the 11 Springbok caps he won in 2016 had he not chosen to leave the Lions this summer.
At present, only overseas- based Springboks with more than 30 Test caps are eligible for selection but the ruling does not apply to a World Cup year.
“It is every guy's dream to pull on their country's jersey at a World Cup and I am ambitious to play for the Boks again, but it is up to them whether they change the rules or not,” De Klerk told TRP.
“For now, I am focused on playing good rugby here and the rest will hopefully take care of itself.”
The scrum-half was midflight when the Boks were on the receiving end of a record 38-3 hammering by Ireland last Saturday, having just enjoyed a whistle- stop tour of South Africa to visit family and friends.
Rather than subscribe to the doomsday scenario that many of his countrymen have voiced, De Klerk refuses to write off the Springboks under Alister Coetzee's management.
He said: “We still have a lot of good players and some played well individually on the day. If they can sort out a few simple things, they can still be a very threatening team.
“There are a lot of new faces and the coaches are still working things out so it's going to take a while for them to work out where they are going as a group.” The same could be true of his new club Sale who've been brilliant in patches but for the most part belowpar.
Two wins from the first seven league matches is not the sort of return on investment that owner Simon Orange had hoped for when splashing the cash on A-listers like De Klerk.
Today they take on thirdplaced Leicester at Welford Road, hardly the venue to end a record 10-game losing streak away from home in the Premiership.
For De Klerk, who is still adjusting to the 40-degree swing in temperatures on his return to the UK, history counts for nothing.
“We're very keen to show our true potential and start getting some wins. We could have won against Exeter and Newcastle when we were the better team on the day, but the results didn't go our way. We all know where we are as a team and where we can go.
“I haven't played there (Leicester) yet so for me it is just another game and a great opportunity for us as a team to get a result. I think we've got the ability to get a scalp there.”
Mike Williams, Mike Fitzgerald and Gareth Owen return to the Leicester Tigers squad after injury.
Lock Fitzgerald is in the squad for the first time after recovering from knee surgery in the summer.
Marland Yarde, left, will make his Sale Sharks debut after he joined from Harlequins earlier this month.
