Since January the Revolving door at Sale Sharks has been working overtime. The Steve Diamond revolution is well underway and at times it has been hard to keep track of the comings and goings at Edgeley Park. In the last 10 days alone three players have announced they will be leaving at the end of the season, four players have been recruited for next season and one has extended his contract.
Here's a timeline of Sale's Transfer news since January:
10th January- PLAYER OUT- Fly Half Charlie Hodgson signs for Saracens.
13th January- STAFF APPOINTMENT- Ex-Sale Coach Steve Diamond rejoins the club to oversee all rugby related matters.
27th January-PLAYER OUT- England star Matthew Tait announces he will be playing for Leicester Tigers next season.
16th February- PLAYER IN- Experienced Irish Prop Tony Buckley agrees to join the club from Munster.
25th February- PLAYER IN- Hooker Joe Ward signs from Wasps
27th February- PLAYER OUT- Prop Eifion Lewis-Roberts agrees to join Toulon, reuniting him with former Sale coach Philippe Saint-Andre.
2nd March- PLAYER IN- Sale sign 24 year old Lock Kearnan Myall from Leeds Carnegie.
3rd March- PLAYER RELEASED- Sale announce that they will not be renewing the contract of World Cup winner Ben Cohen
4th March-PLAYER OUT- Wasps announce the signing of Sale centre Chris Bell
8th March- PLAYER OUT- Young flanker Carl Fearns agrees terms with Bath.
8th March -PLAYER IN- Sale recuit Mark Easter, brother of England star Nick, from Northampton
8th March- PLAYER IN- Sale sign 37 year old Kris Chesney from Toulon.
9th March- PLAYER IN- Samoan Fly Half Tasesa Lavea agrees to join Sale from French champions Clermont Auvergne..
10th March- CONTRACT EXTENDED- Young Prop Henry Thomas agrees to extend his deal at the club, keeping him at Edgeley Park until 2014.
In total six have joined and six have left so far. With the exception of Kearnan Myall there has been a clear pattern to Steve Diamond's recruitment policy. He has focused on bringing experienced, older players who are not getting much game time at top European clubs. Sales new signings have an average age of 30, while the players who left have an average age of 27.
Perhaps Diamond feels he needs to steady the ship before he can seriously look to the future. With several more players out of contract in the summer it seems unlikely that this will be the last transfer news we hear from Edgeley Park this season.