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Steve Diamond is confident that his “Dirty Dozen” will prove to be a capable MP as he resigns himself to virtually losing Sales the entire South African contingent for the start of next season.
Only Cobus Wiese of the Sharks Springboks has not been chosen in an initial training team that will begin preparations for the Rugby Championship after the Gallagher Premiership has ended.
Diamond knows that players involved in the Southern Hemisphere tournament will miss the opening rounds of the 2020-21 league campaign, which begins on November 20.
But Sale’s rugby director is reassured by the way his less-established stars performed in dispatching the Wasps a fortnight ago, a result that rekindled the club’s title challenge.
“All the South Africans I have other than Cobus Wiese have been called up, but we don’t lose them until the end of the season,” Diamond said.
“At the beginning of next season we will have two league games and two Europeans where something will have to give.
“But my midweek team came out and beat the Wasps who are beating everyone right now; I call them the ‘Dirty Dozen’.
“I have a good and strong team that will fall apart in those first two games if I don’t have the players.”
Fears that South Africa’s World Cup winner Lood De Jager suffered a major shoulder injury against Leicester on Saturday have lessened.
De Jager underwent reconstructive surgery on both shoulders last year and will have a scan Monday afternoon, but the initial outlook is promising.
“The X-rays are very positive, there does not seem to be any distress, but we are waiting for the MRI to be done and then we will take him to see one of the specialists,” said Diamond.
“We are quite optimistic. He won’t play for the next 10 days, but our doctors say there is no structural damage.
“There may be some damage to the ligaments, but we won’t know until after the scan.”
England winger Tom Curry has begun a return to concussion playing protocols and while he will miss Wednesday’s clash with the Saracens, he could return to face Bath this weekend.
Sale, meanwhile, has announced that former hooker Rob Webber will join them until the end of this season.
The 34-year-old English international was appointed forwards coach at Championship Club Jersey earlier this year.
Diamond said: “We have brought Rob back as a precaution. As we approach the commercial end of the season, we don’t want to be trapped by a lack of options in our package. “
– TEAMtalk Media
