Young Gun: Mike Haley – Sale full-back

Mike Haley has played in every position in the backline during his young career but now the Sale Sharks tyro has finally nailed his colours to the full-back mast.
Preston-born Haley is already well known to the Sharks faithful as, while still only 18, he made his debut in last year’s LV= Cup semi-final win over Saracens.
Included as 24th man in the squad, an injury in the warm-up to Cameron Shepherd saw Haley drafted into the starting XV and he played all 80 minutes.
The Preston-born Haley, 19, has pushed on this season with four more LV= Cup appearances and one in the Amlin Cup.
After a much-travelled youth that saw Haley line up for a variety of teams – Preston Grasshoppers like his father, Hartpury College for a year’s study, England U18s clubs and schools to name but three – it was high time to pick a position.
Fly-half, centre, wing, Haley has even lined up at scrum-half in his fledgling career. But those days are now gone and Haley is adamant he has his position sorted.
“I see my future as at full-back,” Haley told The Rugby Paper. “So far in my career I have played in a whole load of positions but I think full-back brings the best out of me, it gives me the best chance to show what I’ve got and suits my skillset.
“I have a safe pair of hands so I’m good under the high ball, my kicking game is quite strong and I read the game quite well so moving forward I think that’s going to suit me.
“This season has been about kicking on and getting a bit more first-team experience. It has gone OK so far but I am hoping that I can get a bigger role in the team.”
The upcoming departure of Rob Miller to Wasps is likely to open doors for Haley next season. But with Tom Arscott for competition in a loaded back-line Haley is having to make do with the LV= Cup and the A-League for now.
“The A-League is OK but it’s only a limited amount of games so the LV= Cup has been great,” he added.
“It really helps to push your experience for us young lads of being in the first-team environment, it’s invaluable really.
“I made my debut in the competition last season so it’s got good memories for me.
“There was talk of me going to Leeds on loan earlier in the season but I picked up an injury and then the LV= Cup games were coming up so it didn’t come off.
“We will see how it goes for the rest of the season, if the opportunity were to come up again I’d be interested, I think it would be a great experience to have.
“The next step is to start improving my composure, the ability to stay calm under pressure and back myself to play my game.
“That confidence comes with more experience and hopefully the more game time I get, the better that will get.”
And while having Miller, Arscott and Mark Cueto to learn off in training has been invaluable for Haley, he also cites his experiences in South Africa this summer when he played U19s Currie Cup for the Border Bulldogs alongside fellow Shark James Flynn.
He added: “South Africa was a great experience for me – better than a normal pre-season as we got to play a lot of games.
“It was a very different style of rugby as well so it’s all good experience.”