Sanderson looking for an extra 12%

ALEX Sanderson believes Sale will need to improve by at least 12 per cent if they are going to go one better than last season and win the Premiership. 

- PAUL REES

Sanderson’s Sale finished second behind Saracens and led his former club in the final before going down 35-25 at Twickenham.

“There were a lot of aspects last season that I will be forever proud of,” said director of rugby Sanderson. “When you fall inches short of glory there are moments you will look back on and think could you have done better?

“We have focused on aspects of our behaviour in adversity at the business end. How are we when hardest hit? On the front foot we are pretty powerful but how are we on the back foot?

“We saw a change in performance last season, winning games in the last quarter when we had lost before, but we caught on about the importance of that too late because that is where we fell short in the final.”

Sanderson has bolstered his squad with experience. Agustin Creevy, who was picked for his 100th Test by Argentina last night, and England’s Luke Cowan-Dickie will contest the hooker’s jersey after Akker van der Merwe and Ewan Ashman moved to South Africa and Scotland respectively while the former Leicester full-back Telusa Veainu will add knowhow to a young back three.