Joe Marler backdrop as George Ford backs Sale players after 85-19 loss
joe marler sits in the background of a Sale story that turned fast. George Ford backed Alex Sanderson after the 85-19 loss to Saracens, saying the players owned the damage, then helped drive a 52-33 win over Harlequins on Saturday.
Ford scored 17 points in that recovery. Sale also finished the Harlequins match with an 11-point buffer over the final Champions Cup spot, even as their season had already been hit by a heaviest-ever home league defeat, no chance of making the play-offs and a European exit.
Ford backs Sale’s players
Ford did not soften the Saracens result. “It's a scar, a proper scar,” he said, before adding, “It was a horror show.”
He went further after the defeat, putting the responsibility on the squad rather than the touchline. “The only reason that happened was down to the players and our choice of whether to want to do the tough stuff, the stuff that requires no talent: whether to dig in for each other, for the club, for the coaches, for the owners, for everyone,” Ford said.
That left Sanderson and the coaches out of the frame. “I genuinely don’t think it was anything to do with Al and the coaches. In fact, I know it wasn’t. It’s on us as players,” he said.
Sale hit back at Harlequins
Sale answered with a 52-33 win over Harlequins on Saturday, and the final quarter told the story. They came from behind with four unanswered tries to close the match out, with Ford’s 17 points central to the response.
The comeback gave Sale a little room in the race for Champions Cup qualification, but not enough to hide the damage done by the Saracens defeat. They could no longer make the play-offs and had already been knocked out of Europe by the time the Harlequins result landed.
Rob du Preez at the Stoop
Rob du Preez’s afternoon ended badly. He went off with a torn hamstring after making 88 consecutive PREM starts dating back to the start of 2022, and he is due to join Bayonne this summer.
Ford’s line after the Harlequins win was blunt enough to match the week that came before it: “It doesn’t make up for last week, nothing makes up for last week.” Sale left with a rebound result, but also with the memory of 85-19 still hanging over the group.
