Signs pointing up for Sale after tough ten years

Sale legend Dean Schofield believes his former club are on course to challenge for domestic silverware again ten years after they became champions of England.
Since lifting the Premiership trophy after a famous 45-20 victory over Leicester at a rain-soaked Twickenham in 2006, Sale have endured a roller-coaster decade with no less than seven head coaches in situ.
“After the Premiership final it was the start of that French revolution of paying big money and bringing international players over. They handpicked a lot of our players and that killed Sale really,” Schofield, right, told The Rugby Paper.
“Phillipe took the likes of myself, Seb Bruno, Rory Lamont, Juan Fernandez Lobbe and Efion Lewis-Roberts with him to Toulon. Chabal went to Racing and Jason White and Lionel Faure signed for Clermont shortly after the club won the Premiership. No team in the world could recover from that.
“We had Kingsley Jones running the show and then Mike Brewer came in – but that wasn’t a great move for the club.”
Steve Diamond’s return four years ago has given the Sharks some much needed stability and clarity of purpose, and Schofield is optimistic that the club he served for nine years can fulfil its promise to be a northern powerhouse.
“It’s taken the club a long time to recover but I think they have got it back on track,” he said.
“With Steve Diamond at the helm now they’re in good shape. Last season they were unbeaten at home apart from the last game and they are always up there in mid-table. I don’t think it’ll be long before they are pushing for top four.
“It’ll be interesting to see how this No.10 they’ve signed (AJ MacGinty) goes because I think Danny Cipriani will be missed.”
Schofield also feels Sale need to find a Chabal-type talisman if they are to kick on to the next level.
“Look at Northampton this year, they’ve signed Louis Picamoles. I’d like to see someone like that at Sale, not necessarily a Frenchman but a big ball-carrying No.8 who can be the team’s talisman.”
It may be ten years since Sale won the Premiership but for Yorkshire Carnegie lock Schofield, still going strong at the age of 37, it still feels like yesterday.
“I’m amazed how quickly 10 years goes by. They were good times. We had some cracking players and big personalities and Edgeley Park was a fortress for us.
“I remember that we were all very confident going into the final, and that speaks volumes for where Sale were at the time … to be going to Twickenham to play Leicester in a cup final and expecting to win. We’d finished top of the league and steamrollered quite a few teams. I think that was the key.
“We obviously had big name players like Chabal but I remember Magnus Lund and Richard Wigglesworth having the game of their lives that day, to be fair they’d been playing well all year. It was great to be on the pitch when the final whistle went.”
Schofield continued: “Me and Wiggy went on our first England Saxons tour the day after the final and he has gone on from strength to strength since.
“If you’d have told him and Charlie then that they’d be playing in another Premiership final for a different club 10 years down the line, they’d have bitten your hand off. It’s testament to their professionalism really; they deserve it.”
JON NEWCOMBE