Sale Sharks hooker Tommy Taylor hopes a victory against London Wasps tomorrow can add a layer of gloss to what he admits what has been a disappointing campaign.
The 21-year-old, who will start from the bench, believes Sharks could potentially salvage something from a relegation-battling season with victory over the London side.
However, the hooker – who has appeared 14 times this season – admits that though a result may lift them to a better position, Sale have still underperformed.
“A win would make our season look a lot better, but we can’t hide from the fact that we’ve had a poor season,” he said.
“One result at the end of the season is not going to change what happened at the start of the season.
“But I think definitely for us, if we win and a few results go our way we can finish ninth which makes the season look a lot better.”
The Sharks are playing a fortnight after their heavy 47-7 defeat at Franklin’s Gardens against a rampant Northampton Saints.
And Steve Diamond’s men know that in order to rise above other bottom-half battlers London Irish and Worcester Warriors they need to shake off last week’s poor all-round performance.
Yet Taylor also cast his eye further afield to the next Aviva Premiership season, believing that a win on Saturday could inspire them to a good start in four months time.
“There’s a bit of a marker needed for next season and pre-season,” he said.
“If we have a good win at the end of the season we can look back to this at the start of the next campaign especially after the result last week which was pretty disappointing.
“We can look back at the Wasps game and say we got a good win, and that can spur us on to a good pre-season.”
Sale entertain Wasps knowing that a bonus point victory and forgiving results elsewhere could see them rise to ninth.
Line-up: Mark Cueto, Will Addison, Johnny Leota, Sam Tuitupou, Tom Brady, Nick Macleod, Dwayne Peel, Alasdair Dickinson, Marc Jones, Henry Thomas, Kearnan Myall, Andrei Ostrikov, Dan Braid, David Seymour Captain, James Gaskell
Replacements: Tommy Taylor, Ross Harrison, Tony Buckley, Tom Holmes, Andy Powell, Nathan Fowles, Sam James, Charlie Amesbury
Image courtesy of Sale Sharks, via YouTube, with thanks
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