Sale have been tapping into the big-match experience of Sir Alex Ferguson in the leadup to the Premiership final against Saracens at Twickenham on Saturday. The former Manchester United manager was invited to address the Sharks squad on Tuesday and gave the players tips on how to deal with the pressure of the occasion.
The Sharks have not featured in a Premiership final since 2006 and Ferguson, a friend and racing associate of the club’s co-owner Ged Mason, advised them that concentration held the key to trophy success. “You’re not there to enjoy it, you’re there to win,” he told the players, having joked they should also avoid wearing white suits for the occasion.
The Sharks’ director of rugby, Alex Sanderson, was suitably grateful for Ferguson’s presence at Manchester City’s old training headquarters at Carrington. “We thought we’d try and wring a little bit of gold out of him and he didn’t disappoint,” Sanderson said.
“The lads were on the edge of their seats and he came up with some really good bits of advice. When it comes from Sir Alex’s mouth, it’s gospel, isn’t it? He’s a smart customer … he said the right things and it was well worth it. It’s good to have him in our corner.”
Sanderson is fully aware, though, that Sale will require more than just a few nuggets of sage pre-match advice to beat Saracens, who finished top of the regular season table and have been regular visitors to Twickenham. “If we’re relying on Alex Ferguson on a Tuesday morning to win us this cup there’s something wrong,” he said. “[But] he was brilliant in highlighting what we’ve been working on around resilience, consistency and concentration. It’s going to be the odd moment when a side switches off that will open up the opportunity that I believe will win or lose the game.”
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Sale will be without the flanker Ben Curry, who had an operation this week to repair the hamstring he injured in the semi-final against Leicester, but have been making special efforts to prepare for Twickenham. They have trained on a slightly bigger pitch than usual and have also brought in loudspeakers to replicate the stadium crowd noise. “We’ve controlled what we can to make it feel as real as possible but there’s nothing like the pressure of the occasion,” Sanderson said.
