[Olyy]

Starting XV:
15. Tom Roebuck, 14. Tom O’Flaherty, 13. Rob du Preez, 12. Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, 11. Alex Wills, 10. George Ford, 9. Gus Warr; 1. Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 2. Ethan Caine, 3. James Harper, 4. Ernst van Rhyn ©, 5. Ben Bamber, 6. Jacques Vermeulen, 7. Jos Gilmore, 8. Sam Dugdale.

Replacements:
16. Alfie Longstaff, 17. Ralph McEachran, 18. Tye Raymont, 19. Dylan Hodkinson, 20. Reuben Logan, 21. Dom Hanson, 22. Marius Louw, 23. Tristan Woodman.




Not sure anyone could've predicted this side

[Olyy]

Unsurprisingly the offy social media accounts have a different side up to the offy website,
They're saying no Roebuck, RdP at 15, Louw at 13 and Joe Bedlow on the bench

Guess we just have to wait until Sunday to see who shows up

[RinTin]

Facebook release says completely different backline:

15/ RDP 14/Flats 13/ Louw 12/ RMW 11/ Roebuck 10/ Ford 9/ Warr

1/ Asher 2/ Caine 3/ Harper 4/ EVR 5/ Bamber 6/ Vermeulen 7/ Gilmore 8/ Dugdale

[HerefordShark]

How do we manage to put out different team sheets almost every week?

[RinTin]

Asher at loosehead is the one that will get the 'AOF is a loosehead' guys fired up. I just view it as needs must and shows his versatility.

[Surbiton_Shark]

Not sure anyone could've predicted this side

Couldn't agree more. Carps injured again? Luke James seems to be constantly injured, he can't be out of favour as we signed him for another few years....

Thought Tom C may appear. I really would have liked to have seen Hanson start and I'm fed up of Ford aimlessly kicking so would have given him a breather.

Odd selection all around

[RinTin]

Saracens full bore - absolutely terrifying pack on it's way to us.

[Surbiton_Shark]

Saracens full bore - absolutely terrifying pack on it's way to us.

Maybe they want to win....and not just talk about it

[AndaleManito]

Agree with the others, would like an update on Luke James. Wonder what's up with him, was knocking on England's door some years back, but he hardly plays these days. Clearly still handy (4 tries in 3 PREM games - 2 starting) this season. A headscratcher.

Otherwise, I'm really happy to see some of the younger lads get some experience. I've said before, but if this season is indeed a transition, then we should squeeze as much as we can from the experience-giving stone.

...it is actually comical how poor our social media/PR side is... how difficult is it to put out the correct team sheet each week? It's quite a bad look if you think about it - clearly some managerial and communication incompetence somewhere for it to be consistently poor - have to wonder what else is poorly communicated that we don't see.

I now second guess myself and wonder if its selection bias - are all clubs as bad as we are, and I just don't notice it because I don't follow their rosters/lineups so closely? Probably not.

Excited to see Gilmore, Longstaff, McEachran, Raymont, Hodkinson, Logan, Hanson, and Woodman. Go well lads.

[Olyy]

Carpenter a groin strain vs Leinster according to the offy (so take with a huge pinch of salt) - did wonder why he was subbed early

[RinTin]

1 Rhys Carre
2 Jamie George
3 Marcus Street
4 Maro Itoje (c)
5 Hugh Tizard
6 Theo McFarland
7 Ben Earl
8 Tom Willis

9 Charlie Bracken
10 Fergus Burke
11 Rotimi Segun
12 Olly Hartley
13 Nick Tompkins
14 Noah Caluori
15 Max Malins

Replacements:
16 Theo Dan
17 Eroni Mawi
18 Marco Riccioni
19 Harry Wilson
20 Nathan Michelow
21 Ivan Van Zyl
22 Owen Farrell
23 Angus Hall

I'm excited to see Hartley vs RMW. Both great young talents and come through U20's together in the centres side by side.

Their wingers have scary pace.

[dinogyro]

This is probably going to be the worst £275 I've ever spent.

[Yareet]

Agree with the others, would like an update on Luke James. Wonder what's up with him, was knocking on England's door some years back, but he hardly plays these days. Clearly still handy (4 tries in 3 PREM games - 2 starting) this season. A headscratcher.

Otherwise, I'm really happy to see some of the younger lads get some experience. I've said before, but if this season is indeed a transition, then we should squeeze as much as we can from the experience-giving stone.

...it is actually comical how poor our social media/PR side is... how difficult is it to put out the correct team sheet each week? It's quite a bad look if you think about it - clearly some managerial and communication incompetence somewhere for it to be consistently poor - have to wonder what else is poorly communicated that we don't see.

I now second guess myself and wonder if its selection bias - are all clubs as bad as we are, and I just don't notice it because I don't follow their rosters/lineups so closely? Probably not.

Excited to see Gilmore, Longstaff, McEachran, Raymont, Hodkinson, Logan, Hanson, and Woodman. Go well lads.

The Welsh RFU apparently managed to put the wrong Scotland lineup in the program for the W6N game. Including Jade Konkel who retired after the World Cup

It’s not just us

[ejndavid95]

How can it be so difficult for them to release the correct team selection across all platforms? Supposed to be a professional outfit for god sake.

Ties in to the lack of match updates on Twitter etc as well...all points to a pretty amateurish social media team.

[SSR]

Check out this interview with Axe on RugbyPass.
https://www.rugbypass.com/news/beef-ale ... ace-in-it/
Now compare it to the team we are putting out. What statement is he trying to make ?

[DavenportSharky]

Sale Sharks v Saracens
Referee: Christophe Ridley (93rd game)
ARs: Hamish Smales & Jamie Leahy
TMO: Peter Allan

[Olyy]

Joe Bedlow has shared the teamsheet on his Instagram story so I guess that confirms the version with him in is the legit one


I'm not keen on RdP at 15 tbh - is Ollie Davies injured? Might as well give him a crack at it

[RugbyMarvel]

I’m not interested in us playing RDP at 15, surely we should be giving a youngster a run?

If we aren’t going to get a 9 in, or we are reliant in any case in Hanson as our 3rd choice then we should try and give him some staring minutes.

Like Gilmore selection.

[RinTin]

Jesus - Gus Warr just isn't good enough.

[Olyy]

Absolute stinker to concede but we're actually playing rugby on attack!

[Olyy]

Ok we're back to conceding directly from crap kicks, this is more like Sale

[Halifaxshark]

I don’t know what’s worse, watching Sale play or the social media work.

14 miss tackles in the first 20 minutes and constantly box kicking away possession.

Social media post had Roebuck at 15, website had no Roebuck, team 23 on social media an hour ago had Roebuck at 14, yet he runs out at 11.

I will probably get some grief for his post, but it’s embarrassing on both fronts.

Alex said he wouldn’t be playing lads who are leaving, Robs at 15. Perfect time for Ollie Davies, but who knows if he’s fit or not. Interview brushed on a question and Al said ‘we don’t buy into releasing the injured list, but there’s loads of lads out’. Buy in? To what, informing the fans who’s injured.

[Olyy]

No fight in the side at all, it's just embarrassing to watch

[Lord Elpus]

Lucky to get the nil.

[ejndavid95]

Al loves to talk about playing for the shirt & "Northern Pride"

Well they've disgraced the shirt in that 40 minutes. Coaching team is on borrowed time.

[Halifaxshark]

This whole ‘brain chamber’ mental side of the game that they talk about so much isn’t working, call me old fashioned but I would prefer the players could tackle.

[Olyy]

Tackling, like lineouts, is old news

What you want is every player to play every other position, no specialists allowed - that's how you play real rugby these days

[Halifaxshark]

40 missed tackles in an hour….. 40.

[ejndavid95]

Of 157 attempted tackles they've missed 40...

[ejndavid95]

Of 157 attempted tackles they've missed 40...

12 visits to our 22...12 tries scored.

Anyone still want Forshaw in?

[SSR]

Didn't Calouri score 5 against us on his debut ? I guess we learnt our lesson then ?
This is bloody terrible. What has happened to our fortress? We must have left the door open.
So much for playing with pride.

[Bennett2392]

Sanderson has got to go. I can’t see how anyone can defend him.

[Olyy]

Gilmore, Longstaff and Ramont all injured - Woodman down getting a lot of treatment and presumably would be subbed if we had anyone to come on


Will we even be able to field a side soon?

[AndaleManito]

Taking 85 at home… wow. Don’t know what to say or think really.

[ejndavid95]

Gilmore, Longstaff and Ramont all injured - Woodman down getting a lot of treatment and presumably would be subbed if we had anyone to come on


Will we even be able to field a side soon?

Gilmore & Raymont didn't look positive at all, Longstaff an HIA so could be okay

[London shark]

I post very rarely but I feel it's necessary! Today's performance shows that there is something that's not quite right about the club. I've been a sale fan for a while now. I've seen 68 points out on us at kingsholm, 65 at the stone x, 66 at franklins gardens but to say 85, at home is a new low!

It started with us showing ambition in the recruitment process, only to be humiliated by several big name players choosing to stay or go to other clubs!

Then the coaching reshuffle and bringing in Joe Ford as attack coach to replace Deacon. Sorry to say but what has he added as attack coach or even head coach? What was the thinking behind this hire? We are box kicking more than ever and now even more aimlessly than before.

The article (either in the times or the telegraph) said we are struggling to attract the Gen Z's due to our boring rugby, is sadly true. Who would want to watch kick tennis? Our attendance numbers, our revenues reflect this. Also how long will Simon Orange and TDR keep funding us with such results?

Now I appreciate I may be preaching to the converted here by saying the above but I have some fundamental questions. Do we have the right strategy on and off the field? Are our new recruits for next year really going to make a difference? Do we have the right coaches and most importantly is Axe still the right man? If not, who takes over? I really really hope that this is a transition period, rather than a post Phillip Saint-Andre esque decline.

[The Back Row]

I turned off after 20 minutes. Just seen the final score.

The blame lies with the DOR.

One person. Just one. Come on here and defend that. He’s useless. Get him out of this club. Now. For good.

[Dave L]

Lots to get off my chest.

Today was the first time in about a decade that I’ve felt genuinely angry at the club and the player group. Given the discrepancies in the respective packs I fully expected us to lose but thought it would be around twenty points at worse. The amount of missed tackles, poor handling and dreadful decision making was unacceptable for a professional side. Genuinely embarrassing and shameful.

It feels like this is the real low point of a pretty wretched season that has killed all of our momentum as a club stone dead. Over the last five years we’ve built ourselves up from relative minnows to big beasts. Consistently strong league finishes (3/4 play off finishes), player profile (crop of academy graduates to full internationals, etc) and off the field commercial progress have all been big positives. We’ve been canny in how we’ve worked with the media to create the image of the club as well.

All of our core strengths as a team seem to have evaporated this year.

- Home ground being a fortress - Far too many defeats. The crowds this year have been woeful. Way down on last year. They’ve improved somewhat since we switched from Friday night games but today felt awful. You could have parked a bus in the gaps in the south stand.

- Strong defence and physicality. We’ve had a lot of injuries but the pack have felt really underpowered.

I don’t think any of Alex’s coaching changes have worked. We’d queried why he’d been so reluctant to change Dime’s coaching team but any changes he’s had to make have made the team worse. Langley, McGuigan (massively overpraised early on) and J Ford have all added to the decline. The Bortolami situation was just bizarre. Why was he brought in? Whose idea was it? Why did he leave so early?

Lots of questions. Not many answers. We’ve seen how Saints, Bath and Chiefs have all bounced back well from bad seasons. Can we do the same?

[Sumisu]

You're saying what has been in my mind for a while now. How many times do we need to see our plans fail before we drop 'em?

Also, I'm seeing some great talent making crazy stupid mistakes - I want to know what in gods name is going on behind the scenes that turns years proven deadly effective rugby players into de-fanged little fluff-balls... I agree, I don't think new blood is going to change much; the tactics, the training, something in these players 'week-in, week-out' just isnt working and needs changing, drastically.

I can't help but think poor Louw!! He moved here thinking this was a step up? we've done nothing but play him in loosing situations - any new players coming in, it's just not fair to expect them to save us, we need to change our ways, we look like amateurs on the field!

[ChorltonShark]

I was at the game and it was just dreadful. Embarrassing. This season has been miserable for fans and the buck has to stop somewhere. Usually it's the job of the boss in an organisation to take responsibility when things have gone wrong. And something has to change. I pay good money to haul myself halfway across Manchester to watch this rubbish and frankly I've got other things I could be doing with my time. I don't post on here much either but I needed somewhere to rant

[DavenportSharky]

If they had kicked everything it would have been in the 90s. Before the match Sarries were one place ahead of us. The team announcements set the scene. Sarries not given up on top 4. Sale with nothing much to play for apart from pride and contracts. A bench suggestive of Jets not Sharks. It cried out for Sale to throw the ball down the line and not rely on chasing kicks. The front row line ups suggested a complete mismatch especially with the young lads on the bench.

So what actually happened. The scrum held up very well. The lineout went better than of late. Tom O’Flaherty had his best game in a while. We scored 3 tries. We should have scored 2 more in the first half.

Then the rest of the story. Error after error. Missed tackle after missed tackle. Total embarrassment. A pathetic capitulation. Probably the worst performance in the professional era. Men versus boys. No point in picking out individuals.

Gabby and Kenny were in the West Stand. I wonder what they thought about the decision to leave Saints and join Sharks. The couple who sit in front of me had come down from Edinburgh as they do for all home matches- what on Earth was their mood driving back? What on Earth were the new recruits thinking when they watched their future colleagues being ripped apart.

To make it even worse, that stupid “band” in the South Stand got on my T!Ts . Whose idea was that?? Sack them with immediate effect.

I expect the annual e mail inviting me to renew my season ticket will be in my inbox shortly. I hope I don’t damage my iPad.