We're not the whipping boys - Sanderson

ALEX Sanderson is relishing Sale’s novel status as underdogs as the Premiership leaders prepare to face some of the best sides in Europe, starting with a home game against Stade Francais. 

- JON NEWCOMBE

After today’s clash, the Sharks travel to four-time winners Leinster, then face 2022 URC champions the Stormers in Cape Town before concluding the pool stages with a home date against hat-trick-seeking La Rochelle.

If ever evidence was needed that the Champions Cup is the closest thing to Test rugby, this is it. “The biggest crowds, best venues – it is as close to international rugby as you can get. That’s the rhetoric I have been saying every year but because I have said it before it doesn’t make it any less true,” said Sanderson.

“We don’t want to be the whipping boys of this group, which is what most people had us down to be when the pools got announced; that’s proper motivation for us to step out of that shadow.

“We are in the hardest group. They are all hard groups but this is way and above the hardest. You either look at it being a tough Christmas or you appreciate for what it is – a brilliant opportunity to see how you stack up against the best, that’s how we are looking at it.

“Stade are also almost top of their tree and they beat Toulouse, then it’s Leinster the week after, the perennial finalists and La Rochelle the current champions, not to mention Stormers, who are probably the best team in South Africa.