In his latest column for TRU, Josh Beaumont discusses Sale’s excellent recent run, starting 2019 with a bang, new contracts and he also reflects on a ‘proud moment for all of the family
We’re unbeaten in the last five Premiership games and now we are kind of disappointed not to have got the win down in Bath at the start of December!
We had a little blip against Bordeaux at home in terrible conditions after beating them comfortably the week before. I think the defeat in Europe proved beneficial for us because it showed that if we don’t turn up with the right attitude, results go against us.
That was leading into the Bristol game and since then, training has really stepped up. We have really nailed down our detail. When we provide our backline with a platform, we have shown that our work pays off. It is ticking along nicely at the moment. There is still plenty we can work from, but I think we are in a good place.
Dimes [Steve Diamond] alluded to something in our team meeting this week. He said let’s just keep doing what we’re doing. We will just go under the radar. It is still so tight in the middle of the table so if we think we have already achieved something, then we can easily be brought back down to earth.
You know what is going to come when you play Saracens. They are very efficient and they really pressurise teams into forcing mistakes. I felt we kind of flipped that and did it quite well to them. At the scrum, a few penalties went our way and fair play to the lads up front, they did a really good job.
We put them under pressure in their own half quite a lot and they could never really get a foothold. We have actually gone behind in games recently, but there has been no sense of panic and we showed that again last week.
The drop of the shoulder is just delightful! ??
— Rugby on BT Sport (@btsportrugby) January 4, 2019
26 tries in 38 Premiership games for Denny Solomona ?? pic.twitter.com/5kKVtZTDLW
This time around [after playing Saracens earlier in November], their team was bit more loaded with internationals. There were certain things we did well against them earlier in the season and we did the same on Friday night. That went a long way to winning the contest for us. They didn’t look like breaking us down too many times so because our defensive was strong, it allowed us to counter attack.
We were confident going into the game. That’s what winning does to you. We just tried to focus on ourselves rather than looking at them too much and that’s something we have done in the last few weeks.
I spoke to the in early December and when I also spoke to the other players, they said they were re-signing so that was the biggest confirmation for me that it was the right thing to do.
We have seen the quality with the likes of Faf [de Klerk], Jono [Ross] the Curry’s [Tom and Ben] so the club is going in the right direction. We have all started to understand each other more and it is only going to become more beneficial to keep this team together.
It is great to sign up these players that have been with the club for around two years and guys who have come through the academy. In the past, we may have lost these certain types of players so we are building nicely.
It is nice for me that I have signed again for two years and I been playing lots of minutes recently. I want to play in every game. I am pleased with the consistency of my performances. The team is playing well and that also brings the best out of me. This is the strongest position Sale have been in since I joined the club. Exciting times ahead!
It was a very proud moment for the whole family. He thoroughly deserves his knighthood. Growing up, I have seen how much time and effort he has put into the game. That’s at every level. Whether it is watching schoolboy rugby, university rugby when I was at Durham or Fylde in the National Leagues, he just loves it!
I am truly honoured & humbled to be awarded a knighthood for services to rugby in Her Majesty The Queen’s New Year honours. Rugby & family are my life & I always strive to do the best for the legion of players, volunteers & fans who are the heartbeat of our great sport
— Bill Beaumont (@BillBeaumont) December 28, 2018
Obviously, being involved with the RFU for so many years and now chairman of World Rugby, all he wants is the game to grow and the game to move forward. He is doing his upmost to try and do that.
We will take the recent wins! We managed to keep our momentum going from just before Europe and we had a blip, but carried on our form.
We have a real tough fixture going up against Connacht away this weekend so we can’t sit back and be happy with where we are at. We shot ourselves in the foot by losing to Bordeaux at home so it is winner takes all this weekend for top of the pool. It is a big opportunity for us.
We’re fifth [in the Premiership] at the moment, but we want to keep pushing towards the top four. We do get a bit of time off after Perpignan at home. That will be good as it will mentally refresh everyone and it is really important that the guys get away especially after a long Christmas period where we have given our all. We will then come back in and fire into the Premiership again.
You can follow Josh on Twitter @JoshBeaumont1.
Josh Beaumont was talking to TRU’s Chris Heal
