Sale Sharks

Sale Sharks

Full name	Sale Sharks Rugby Union Football Club
Founded	1861
Location	Stockport, Greater Manchester, England
Ground(s)	Edgeley Park (Capacity: 10,852)
Chairman	Quentin Smith
Director of Rugby	Kingsley Jones
Coach(es)	Mike Brewer
Captain(s)	James Gaskell
League(s)	Aviva Premiership
2009–10	11th
1st kit 2nd kit
Official website
www.salesharks.com

Sale Sharks are a professional rugby union club who play in England in the Aviva Premiership.

The club is an offshoot of Sale F.C., which is based in Sale, Greater Manchester, but Sharks currently play in Stockport at Edgeley Park, ground sharing with Stockport County F.C.

Part of the process of creating a rugby union team to represent the North West region has been in the development of a strong academy. Through their junior team The Jets (presumably named to go alongside The Sharks as a reference to West Side Story) , the club has developed many talented home-grown players, including; Steve Hanley, Mark Cueto, Dean Schofield, Chris Jones, Andy Titterrell and Charlie Hodgson as well as taking on Jason Robinson when he converted codes after leaving Wigan Rugby League Club.

History

2006–2007 season

After the success of the 2005/06 season many at the club had hoped for a repeat and with a strong squad boosted by several quality players including England Saxons centre Chris Bell, Former Wales prop Ben Evans and Argentina flanker Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe it seemed likely. However over the autumn months an injury crisis began with the loss of Scotland capain Jason White to a knee injury whilst playing against Romania. More bad news followed with England fly half Charlie Hodgson and England prop Andrew Sheridan falling to knee and ankle injuries respectively. More and more injuries were picked up over the following months until Sale were left with only 17 of a 38 man squad fit to play in their final Heineken cup match against the Ospreys. (Source: Sale sharks website)

2007–2008 season

In 2007-8, it was World Cup year so the club was without some of out big names e.g. Jason White, Andrew Sheridan, Sebastien Chabal etc. They still had Charlie Hodgson who wasn't picked for England . Sale appointed James Jennings as the new Chief Executive and Dean Schofield as the new captain. Sale had signed some good players including Rory Lamont, Brent Cockbain, Rudi Keil, Julien Laharrague and Scott Lawson but the biggest signing had to be Luke McAlister from the Blues in New Zealand. Signing him was said to be one of the biggest signings Sale had ever made. The season was up and down in parts though. The up parts were; seeing Ben Foden progress at full back to become a superb player, beating Leicester Tigers home and away was a first plus seeing Richard Wigglesworth play for England for the first time was a plus. The academy players also became an integral part to the squad (Neil Briggs, Sean Cox, Will Cliff). However, the low points were not qualifying for the semi finals in the Premiership or win a trophy as they were targets at the beginning of the season. Overall it was a mixed season. (Source: Sale sharks website)

At the end of the season, several players left the club: Ben Foden, Chris Mayor and Ignacio Fernández Lobbe all signed for Northampton Saints, where they were joined by Christian Day. Sililo Martens joined Llanelli Scarlets while Magnus Lund, Julien Laharrague and Ben Evans joined teams in France.

2008–2009 season

During the closed season the retirement through injury of Steve Hanley was announced. On 19 August 2008, Juan Fernandez Lobbe was announced as the captain for the new season, replacing Jason White who was still recovering from a serious knee injury last season. Sebastien Chabal and Dean Schofield were announced as vice-captains.

A new Premiership record of 4 games without leaking a try was set at the start of the season, these games were Newcastle (A), Saracens (H), Bristol (A) and Gloucester (H).

On December 4, 2008 the Board of Sale Sharks announced that Philippe Saint Andre would step down from his position as Director of Rugby at the end of the 2008/2009 season. Kingsley Jones, the current Head Coach is to be promoted to Director of Rugby at the end of the 2008/9 season, assuming overall responsibility for all rugby operations at the Club and former sale winger Jason Robinson will be the new Head Coach from the start of the 2009/2010 season

Sale Sharks were knocked out of the European Cup in the group stages. Despite Sale earning a bonus point win over Clermont in France in the first round, a defeat at home to Munster, a defeat to Montauban and Munster beating The Sharks in Ireland led to a disappointing exit.

Charlie Hodgson was voted the player of the year at the club's end-of-season awards on Thursday 30 April 2009. Something that has worried many Sharks fans of late is the amount of hight quality stars leaving at the end of the 2008–2009 season such as Jason White, Juan Fernández Lobbe, Rory Lamont, Sébastian Chabal, Luke McAlister and Lionel Faure. So far Sharks have only recruited a few players but not of the calibre to replace some of the leavers.

2009–2010 season

It was announced in February 2009 that the new coaching team for the 2009/10 season will be lead by the new Director of Rugby Kingsley Jones, the new Head Coach Jason Robinson assisted by Phil Keith-Roach (forwards coach) and Byron Hayward (Kicking Coach).^[1]

It was announced on March 18, 2009 that Sale Sharks had signed Ben Cohen. The former England Winger signs from French outfit Brive. Contract details were undisclosed.

Dean Schofield has once more received the captaincy, this time for season 2009–2010 season.

It was announced in February 2010 that Sale had signed Welsh international Dafydd James until the end of the season to provide cover for all the injured players.

Sale had a disappointing season, finishing 11th in the Premiership and only securing safety from relegation on the penultimate weekend of the season.

Sale's Heineken cup campaign also ended in disappointment, although they did challenge the group favourites Toulouse and the Cardiff Blues. The highlights of the campaign were a stunning 27-26, win at home to Cardiff and wins home and away against Harlequins.

Towards the end of the season, there were changes made in the coaching staff with Jason Robinson and Phil Keith-Roach leaving the club and Mike Brewer coming in to be Head Coach with Kingsley Jones still being Director of Rugby.

Current standings

Current squad 2010/2011

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under IRB eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-IRB nationality.

Nat. Position Player Hooker Neil Briggs Hooker Marc Jones Hooker Ben Roberts Prop Aston Croall Prop Jack Forster Prop Lee Imiolek Prop Martin Halsall Prop Eifion Lewis-Roberts Prop Andrew Sheridan Prop Karena Wihongi Lock Sean Cox Lock Chris Jones Lock Wame Lewaravu Lock Nic Rouse Lock James Gaskell (c) Flanker Chris Brightwell Flanker Carl Fearns Flanker David Seymour Number 8 Sisa Koyamaibole Number 8 Kristian Ormsby

Nat. Position Player Scrum-half Will Cliff Scrum-half Chris Leck Scrum-half Dwayne Peel Scrum-half Mike Petri Fly-half Charlie Hodgson Fly-half Matty James Fly-half Rob Miller Centre Chris Bell Centre Jonny Kennedy Centre Mathew Tait Centre Iain Thornley Centre Kyle Tonetti Centre Anitelia Tuilagi Wing Tom Brady Wing Ben Cohen Wing Rhys Crane (trialist) Wing Mark Cueto (vc) Wing Selorm Kuadey Wing Fergus Mulchrone Wing Mikaele Pesamino Fullback Nick Macleod Fullback Paul Williams

Current England Elite squad

• Mark Cueto
• Andrew Sheridan

Current England Saxons squad

• Charlie Hodgson
• Mathew Tait

Internationally Capped players

• Ben Cohen
• Mark Cueto
• Charlie Hodgson
• Chris Jones
• Andrew Sheridan
• Mathew Tait
• Sisa Koyamaibole
• Wame Lewaravu
• Mikaele Pesamino
• Anitelia Tuilagi
• Paul Williams
• Mike Petri
• Eifion Lewis-Roberts
• Dwayne Peel

Transfers 2010/2011

Players In

• Chris Brightwell (from Birmingham & Solihull) ^[2]
• Aston Croall (from Harlequins) ^[3]
• Rhys Crane (from Bath) ^[4]
• Rob Miller (from Newcastle Falcons) ^[5]
• Fergus Mulchrone (from Macclesfield & Cheshire) ^[6]
• Nic Rouse (from Nottingham) ^[7]
• Iain Thornley (from Wigan Warriors) ^[8]
• Wame Lewaravu (from Overmach Parma) ^[9]
• Kyle Tonetti (from Leinster) ^[10]
• Matty James (from Cinderford) ^[11]
• Karena Wihongi (from Bourgoin) ^[12]
• Mikaele Pesamino (from Auckland) ^[13]
• Paul Williams (from Blues) ^[14]
• Mike Petri (from NYAC) ^[15]

Players Out

• Luke Abraham (to Lyon) ^[16]
• Mark Atkinson (to London Wasps) ^[17]
• David Doherty (to Rugby League) ^[17]
• Ryan Glynn (to Northampton Saints) ^[18]
• James Jones - Released ^[17]
• Ian Kench (to Nottingham) ^[19]
• Rob O'Donnell (to Rotherham) ^[20]
• Dean Schofield (to Toulon) ^[21]
• Alex Shaw (to Coventry) ^[17]
• Ed Styles (to Loughborough Students) ^[22]
• David Tait - Released ^[23]
• Richard Wigglesworth (to Saracens) ^[24]
• Marika Vakacegu - Released ^[25]
• Mahonri Schwalger (to Taranaki) ^[26]
• Gavin Kerr - Retiring ^[27]
• Oriol Ripol (to Worcester Warriors) ^[28]
• David Bishop (to Newport Gwent Dragons) ^[29]
• Brent Cockbain - Retiring ^[17]
• Dafydd James - Released ^[30]
• Lee Thomas (to Lyon) ^[16]

Notable former players

Club honours

• Parker Pen Shield 2002 2005
• Guinness Premiership 2006

Sponsorship

Sale Sharks signed a three year deal with Manchester business UKFast, the deal is for in excess of £2m.^[31] UKFast started sponsoring the club in 1999, at the same time they changed their name from Sale to Sale Sharks. Lawrence Jones (businessman) a keen supporter of the club and managing director of UKFast announced a sponsorship deal in March 2009 which saw the end to the previous sponsor McAfee's 4 years with the club.

Headline Shirt Sponsor UKFast:^{[32] [33]}

Full list of all sponsors of Sale Sharks: ^[34]:

Other sponsors include: Printerland, Cotton Traders, JobWorthDoing, Greene King IPA

References

• History of the Sale Sharks (from mymanchesteronline
• History of the Sale Sharks (from Nobok)

External links

• Official site
• UKFast Official sponsor
• Official Fans site, News and Blogs
• UKFast.TV Sale Sharks Video Players and Backroom staff
• Sale Sharks Players and Coaches