- Mon Apr 20, 2026 7:24 pm
#78558
There are some mitigating circumstances for Sale, who are practically without a whole team of players: Bevan Rodd, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Nathan Jibulu, Simon McIntyre, Hyron Andrews, Tom Burrow, Dan du Preez, Tom and Ben Curry, Raffi Quirke, Arron Reed, Luke James, Alex Wills and Joe Carpenter. Only Jibulu is suspended. It meant the average age of their bench was 20 years old. By contrast, when they were 66-5 up, Saracens brought Farrell on.
The above is from the Times today. No mention of Will Griff John, Obi Wan Kenobi (?) or Ollie Davies, and there may be others, but I have seen somewhere that Axe has said he won’t play anyone who’s leaving at the end of the season. I would have thought if you pay them, you play them, as distinct from throwing too many Jets in at the deep end and then watching them get mullered without enough senior heads to point them in the right direction.