Sale Sharks
Sale Sharks is a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England, United Kingdom. The team plays in the Gallagher Premiership, and has been in England's top division of rugby union continuously since 1994. Originally founded in 1861 as Sale Football Club, it is one of the oldest existing football clubs. It adopted the nickname Sharks in 1999.
Since 2012, Sale has played home games at the CorpAcq Stadium in Barton-upon-Irwell, Salford, which is shared with Salford Red Devils rugby league club. Between 1905 and 2003, Sale played at Heywood Road in Sale, before moving to Edgeley Park in Stockport where Sale stayed until 2012. Historically one of the leading teams in the north of England, the traditional colours are blue and white.
Domestically, Sale was Premiership champions in 2005–06 and runners up in 2001-02 and 2022-23. Sale won the Premiership Rugby Cup in 2019-20 and was losing finalists in its predecessors, the RFU Knockout Cup in 1997 and the Anglo-Welsh Cup, in 2012-13. Sale also won the second division in 1994 to secure promotion to the Premiership. Internationally, the club won the second tier European Rugby Challenge Cup in 2001–02 and 2004–05.
In the 2024–25 Premiership Rugby season, Sale finished third in the regular season, losing in the play-off semi-final. This position entitled the team to compete in the 2024–25 European Rugby Champions Cup. The club's Director of Rugby is Alex Sanderson, who was appointed in January 2021.
History
1861–1990s
The club was founded in 1861 and is one of the oldest clubs in English rugby. Throughout its history it has been one of the leading rugby union clubs in the north of England. Sale moved into Heywood Road in 1905 and remained there until 2003.Sale were unbeaten in 26 matches, winning 24 and drawing two in 1911.
Although Pat Davies is counted as Sale's first international, having been picked to play for England in 1927, it was G.A.M. Isherwood who was Sale's first representative in an international Test match, when he played in all three tests of the 1910 British tour to South Africa at scrum-half. The club has consistently provided international players and, during the 1930s, had one of its most dominant periods, fielding players of the calibre of Hal Sever, Claude Davey and Wilf Wooller and Ken Fyfe. It came as little surprise when they took out the 1936 Middlesex Sevens.
Sale ruled the roost in county cup rugby for 15 straight seasons as the team went unbeaten from 1972 to 1987 in every one of those cup fixtures. During this period, Sale competed for the chance to be English club champions. In the team's first year, one after the inaugural competition kicked off in 1971, it made the semi-finals only to lose to eventual winners Coventry 35–6.
Professional era
During the 1990s, despite thrilling displays under Paul Turner, and his successor John Mitchell, both club and ground struggled to keep a grip on the demanding commercial and financial realities of running a professional rugby club.Sale took 20,000 fans to Twickenham for the 1997 Pilkington Cup Final but Leicester won a mistake-ridden match 9–3. This interest quickly faded and the anticipated increased crowds never materialised and relegation from the Premier Division loomed until rugby union-playing local businessman Brian Kennedy came to the rescue late in the 1999–2000 season. Since then, the club has been on a sound financial footing.
Off the field, Peter Deakin was recruited from Warrington Wolves rugby league as chief executive to employ the skills he had used with the Bradford Bulls and Saracens, and he made an immediate impact in raising the club's profile until hit by the serious illness which claimed his life in February 2003.
Success was not immediate; Sale Sharks finished eleventh and tenth in the 12-strong Premiership table in the first two years of the new Millennium. It took the coaching partnership of two former Sale players, Jim Mallinder and Steve Diamond, to produce a team that was the 2002 runners-up and qualified for the Heineken Cup.
Player signings matched the elevated profile of the club. Scotland skipper Bryan Redpath was joined by Stuart Pinkerton, Barry Stewart, Graeme Bond, Jason White and Andrew Sheridan. The club then turned to the wealth of talent, hitherto largely untapped, in rugby league. Apollo Perelini, known as "The Terminator" for his uncompromising style, joined Sale Sharks the day after helping St. Helens to victory in the Super League Grand Final at Old Trafford and the media had a field day when Jason Robinson, possibly the most exciting wing in the world in either code, moved to Sale from Wigan Warriors.
In 2002 the team also went on to capture the European Challenge Cup at Oxford's Kassam Stadium, defeating Pontypridd 25–22.
The latter Mallinder days saw the club at Twickenham again in 2004, losing narrowly to the Falcons in the Powergen Cup Final. In the summer of 2004 Jim Mallinder left Sale to take up a position in the RFU's National Academy. Following Mallinder's departure Sale appointed former French international Philippe Saint-André who had recently been turned down for the vacant position as coach of Wales. However, with a new influx of players including French internationals Sébastien Bruno and Sébastien Chabal helped Saint-André and Sale win the 2005 European Challenge Cup again at Oxford, this time 27–3 against Pau, for the second time in three years.
2005–06 season: Champions
New additions to the squad for the 2005–06 season included French prop Lionel Faure, Samoan back Elvis Seveali'i and Welsh number eight Nathan Bonner-Evans. Building on their European Challenge Cup success, Sale won 16 games out of 22 to finish two games clear at the top of the table. In the semi-final against London Wasps, they won 22–12. They won the 2006 Premiership title with a 45–20 win against Leicester Tigers.2006–2009
After the success of the 2005–06 season many at the club had hoped for a repeat. However an injury crisis struck. More and more injuries were picked up over the following months until Sale were left with only 17 of a 38-man squad fit to play in their final Heineken Cup match against Ospreys.In 2007–08, it was World Cup year so the club was without some of their big names. Sale appointed James Jennings as the new chief executive and Dean Schofield as the new captain. Sale had signed good players including Luke McAlister from the Blues in New Zealand. The season was up and down. Successes included; beating Leicester Tigers home and away for the first time. However, the low points were not qualifying for the semi-finals in the Premiership or win a trophy.
On 19 August 2008, Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe was announced as the captain for the new season, replacing Jason White who was still recovering from an injury.
A new Premiership record of four games without leaking a try was set at the start of the season, these games were Newcastle, Saracens, Bristol and Gloucester.
Sale was knocked out of the European Cup in the group stages. Despite earning a win over Clermont, a defeat at home to Munster, a defeat to Montauban and Munster beating The Sharks in Ireland led to an exit.
Charlie Hodgson was voted the player of the year at the club's end-of-season awards on Thursday 30 April 2009.
Philippe Saint-André stepped down from his position as Director of Rugby at the end of the 2008–09 season. Along with the departure of Saint-André, a number of key players announced that their time at Sale was up. Captain Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe and cult figure Sébastien Chabal all bade farewell to the club at the end of the season.
2009–2013: Near relegation
For the 2009–10 season, Kingsley Jones was promoted from Head Coach to Director of Rugby; former Sale winger Jason Robinson became head coach. Sale had a disappointing 2009–10 season, finishing 11th in the Premiership and only securing safety from relegation on the penultimate weekend of the season. Sale's Heineken Cup campaign also ended in disappointment. The highlights of the campaign were a 27–26 win at home to Cardiff and wins home and away against Harlequins.There were changes made in the coaching staff. Keith-Roach stepped down from his duties after deciding he could not commit to a full-time role. Robinson, who originally had no intentions to coach but responded to the club's request for help, left the club. Former All Black forward Mike Brewer replaced Robinson as head coach, while Jones remained as Director of Rugby.
In December 2010, after only eight months in the role, Brewer was sacked as head coach. Academy coach Pete Anglesea took over as first team coach on a temporary basis until the end of the season, leading Sale to a 10th-placed finish.
In the 2011–12 pre-season, former player Steve Diamond was announced as chairman. Immediately, an overhaul of the playing and coaching staff began, dubbed "Diamond's Revolution". Sale started the season well, but form faltered towards the latter half of the campaign, and Tony Hanks was fired as head coach after a defeat to Saracens. At the close of the season, Sale beat Gloucester and Bath to sixth place in the Premiership, meaning that the team qualified for Heineken Cup in the 2012–13 season.
During the summer of 2012, Sale moved from Edgeley Park, its home since 2003, to the newly constructed Salford City Stadium, to share with the Salford City Reds. Bryan Redpath was confirmed as the director of rugby ahead of the 2012–13 season, however after the club's worst ever start to a season losing the first seven league games, Redpath was removed as DOR. John Mitchell was briefly in charge for a month
2012–2020: Steve Diamond era
Sale had a disappointing 2012–13 season at their new stadium, spending most of the season in the relegation place before finishing 10th overall. Mark Cueto over took former Sale teammate Steve Hanley, as top try scorer in the premiership, with his 76th try.Their first win of the season was against Cardiff Blues in the Heineken Cup, which was their only win in that year's Heineken Cup, where they finished bottom of their pool.
In the LV Cup in the knock-out stages, they beat Saracens in the semi-final, but lost in the final to Harlequins 14–31.
The 2013–14 season showed a huge improvement from the season before. Sale finished the season in sixth place, missing out on a place on the play-off competition, but managed to secure qualification to the inaugural European Rugby Champions Cup. They also managed to reach the quarter-finals of the European Challenge Cup, where they lost to Northampton Saints.
Sale's successes in the season prompted England national team head coach Stuart Lancaster to call up six Sale players in to the squad to play in the summer tour.
For the 2014–15 season, the Sharks finished in seventh in the Aviva Premiership, while they finished bottom of their pool in the European Rugby Champions Cup, having pushed Munster, Saracens & Clermont Auvergne all the way at the AJ Bell Stadium. The standout players for this campaign were academy prospects Mike Haley and Josh Beaumont who became first team regulars, and Josh was called up for the England squad for the England XV which played the Barbarians in May, and scored a try.
From the 2015–16 to the 2019–2020 seasons Sale were regular mid-table finishers. With fifth being their highest finish and tenth their lowest in this period.
The club was taken over in June 2016 by an investment group led by Simon Orange.
2016/17
Notable signings: Rob Webber, AJ MacGinty, Mike Phillips and Byron McGuigan.
Finished 10th in the premiership.
Notable leavers: Mike Phillips, Sam Tuitupou, Peter Stringer and Eifion Lewis-Roberts.
2017/18
Notable signings: Faf de Klerk, Jono Ross, James O'Connor, Marland Yarde and the return of Will Cliff.
Finished 8th in the premiership.
Notable leavers: Mike Haley, Will Addison and David Seymour.
2018/19
Notable signings: Chris Ashton and Rohan Janse van Rensburg.
Finished 7th in the premiership.
Notable leavers: Johnny Leota and James O'Connor.
2019/20
Notable signings: South Africans Rob du Preez, Jean-Luc du Preez, Dan du Preez, Lood de Jager, Akker van der Merwe and Coenie Oosthuizen.
Finished 5th in the premiership.
Notable leavers: Chris Ashton, Rob Webber and Bryn Evans.
2020/21
Notable signings: Manu Tuilagi.
In December 2020, Steve Diamond left the club due to family matters. He left three matches into the 2020–21 Premiership season with the team having won two of those games. Commenting on his time with Sale, Diamond said: “I built with Simon and Ged a fantastic management team, a great club, really solid foundations and I thought if there was a time for me to step aside and let the other people come through that was the best time."