Sale Sharks travel to Leicester Tigers this weekend for the second round of the Premiership, looking to make it two wins from two.
And Sharks director of rugby Alex Sanderson has targeted work on set pieces and has braced his squad for a physical encounter at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.
He said: “In many ways they are similar to us, there is going to be a set piece battle, saying that was a weakness, it’s not a weakness. We’ve got to win and get more dominance in the maul and the scrum over the course of the game.”
Their opening-day victory over the Northampton Saints was a nervy affair, and there is plenty of room for improvement this weekend.
Sanderson said: “We were shocked by the intensity and physicality of the first 20 to 30 minutes. We had not played anyone of real calibre for a few weeks.
“We need to improve set pieces and lineouts.
“Improve our ball retention; respect the ball a bit more in the right areas.”
The Sharks defence was incredible against the Saints, an element of their game that needs to be firing if they want to beat the Tigers.
“We made 248 tackles, putting that into perspective, we made 75 tackles two weeks before and 85 tackles the week before,” said Sanderson.
Leicester enter the game after an opening-day defeat, determined to kickstart their season with a victory in front of their fans.
The Tigers will be hell-bent on victory against Sale to rectify their home and away defeats in the Premiership last season on Saturday, straight from kick-off at 3:05 p.m.
Featured Image: Brendan McGilligan
Image: Brendan McGilligan
