They enjoyed the iconic celebratory donut, but when it was time to refocus, Sale’s squad gathered in front of a giant great white shark wearing bulletproof vests to receive a briefing on another ‘War of the West’.
Gloucester are the next target in the region at Kingsholm on Saturday afternoon. The visitors will travel to Ashton Gate eight days ago and be tasked with backing up their remarkable feat of becoming the first team to beat Bristol ‘0’ in a Premiership match since 2016. The Bears put up a half-century. They were away at Leicester last weekend, but Sale’s energetic defense forced them into a goalless submission.
Of course, sweet snacks were also available. Byron McGuigan, who led the closure, was faced with a hefty bill at the till. ‘In rugby terms, if you zero someone out, they say you donut them,’ he said. ‘That happened twice in my career and the coaches bought me donuts and I thought I should do the same.
‘So there was a Krispy Kreme trip. The original glaze is the best, but I ended up buying chocolate and different types of glazes. I bought 54 donuts. I ended up having two of my donuts because I knew some of the boys wouldn’t have them. The boys enjoyed it and deserved it.’
In a short space of time, 35-year-old McGuigan has made a huge impact on Sale’s title challenge. Before he was named defensive coach in mid-November, the Sharks were leaking too many points. They have narrowly avoided defeat by Championship hosts – 45 at Saracens, 27 at home against Gloucester, 47 at Northampton, 40 at Bath and 37 at Doncaster in the Premiership Cup.
But the Namibia-born former Scotland wing (over 100 caps for Sale) has made it three wins since taking over from Jamie Langley, following a crushing defeat in Glasgow. 29-7 over Racing 92, 28-10 over Exeter and 38-0 Eclipse over Bristol. Naturally, McGuigan was quick to thank his players for carrying out his orders effectively.
It’s time for Sale Sharks to refocus after their win against Bristol Bears last week.
Ben Curry and Co became the first team to draw away Bristol in a Premiership match since 2016.
After a shutout win over Bristol, Sale’s defensive coach Byron McGuigan faced a hefty bill as the team celebrated with a bulk order of 54 donuts from Krispy Kreme.
Recalling the final whistle at Ashton Gate, he said: ‘Everyone around me was so happy, but the look on my face was ‘wow’ because it meant the boys had executed their plan almost perfectly.
‘I keep track of how many consecutive tackles they have made. Since Leicester, Luke Cowan-Dickie has made 48 tackles and not missed a single. It was a 100% success. It’s all over the field. You can raise your bat when you turn 50 this weekend! Some boys are nearby. Ben Curry shot 45 but is kicking himself for missing one over the weekend. He came back at 5 o’clock. There is a league table. They enjoy the competitive aspect.’
That competitive advantage would be very important today. McGuigan’s priority this week has been to prevent any signs of complacency after the defensive masterpiece against Bristol. So when Sale’s players sat down for a meeting in the mezzanine above the gym at the Carrington training base they inherited from Manchester City, the mission was to make sure they didn’t get ‘surprised’.
Mail Sport was given unprecedented access to observe the meeting with all senior players, coaches and staff. The first address to the squad before McGuigan took over was coach Warren Spragg. The theme was ‘War in the Wild West’, and the symbol in the center of the screen on the wall was a fearsome shark wearing body armor, with tactical instructions lined up around it.
The players sat attentively. Some took notes. Although questions occasionally came from the floor, most of the conversation came from men asking questions at the front of the room.
The gist of the message was that we had to assert ourselves aggressively. ‘Nuke their Exit’ was part of the brief. ‘High-altitude warfare and scrap’ were something else. Clips of Gloucester coming under pressure in Edinburgh’s defeat in the recent Challenge Cup tie were played, interspersed with footage of Sale’s best work in that area. A joke every now and then will make you feel better.
But the main goal was to create intensity for the work ahead. McGuigan once again addressed his players: ‘We will go to war. He identified the main threat to Gloucester’s side. His image was displayed on the screen, followed by footage of him in action.
Director of rugby Alex Sanderson watched the proceedings from one side, leaving most of his comments to his assistants except for one brief comment. Afterwards, referring to McGuigan, he told Mail Sport: ‘Young people are driving. We have mega athletes. You can’t do it without bulls that love to hit, and we’re recruiting for that. But when the fish smells, it smells from its head, and now it doesn’t smell. bites ‘Angry fish, angry shark!’
Luke Cowan-Dickie (left) made 48 tackles, completing 100% and not missing a beat.
Sale are preparing for another ‘West Country battle’ against Gloucester (above) on Saturday.
Sanderson explained that the logic behind promoting McGuigan, who had a career as a coach at Sandbach, Bowdon, Preston and Rossendale, was that he had recently retired, which meant he bonded with his players and ‘his game intelligence’. ‘Second to none’. He praised his long-hours work ethic and how he preaches what he has practiced as a combative athlete. Wrestling with players during the pre-season showed that McGuigan still has that intense, physical personality.
“He’s incredibly passionate,” Sanderson said. ‘There is so much passion and love for his craft. He wants to be the best defensive coach in the world, but most of all he wants us to be the best defensive team. He puts the team first and they can feel it.
‘These things come from you. They come through your skin. A neuroscientist told me this. He worked in special forces and said your skin is not your exterior. When you sit down and watch a movie, your brain waves and heart rate synchronize with the person you are watching the movie with. That’s a proven fact.
‘If it’s something as simple as watching film and trying to build energy and excitement for a particular area of the game, why wouldn’t that transfer from coach to player? There’s something about that person’s intensity that young people latch onto. That’s its personality and charm.’
Defense systems and the challenges of implementing them are hot topics. England’s struggles in the Autumn Nations series have been largely blamed on the malfunctions of an attack that has malfunctioned since Felix Jones defected last summer and Joe El Abd was forced to inherit a system he did not prefer at short notice. Certain clubs, most notably Exeter, who won their first league game of the season by December 29, have chosen to move away from the high-risk, high-reward offensive approach.
McGuigan described Sale as a ‘line speed team’ on his defensive clock, saying: ‘This is where you put pressure on the team without taking yourself out of the game. If you don’t make any guesses and just fly aimlessly, you’ll get hit from behind with a ball. And we have an offensive defense that has to be incredibly well-coached to prevent that from happening.
‘Blitz is more of a one-on-one, one-on-one tackle. But we want a two-man tackle. That means you have to get up and land together.’
There can be cyclical patterns in how a team defends and attacks. Regarding the bigger picture, McGuigan added: ‘The trend is offensive. The Springboks have won two World Cups through this. Many teams agreed with this, but over the past six or seven years, teams have thought there was a way to solve this. Two initial passes, one on the bridge (lofted, long pass) and one under the edge.
Sharks manager Alex Sanderson made brief comments at the back-to-business meeting, telling Mail Sports that Sale are an ‘angry fish’ who are ‘biting’ in the Premier League this season.
Sale currently sit third in the Premiership and have taken 29 points from their first nine games.
‘In the old days, you couldn’t throw a leg because everyone said, “No, you’re a coach killer.” Now it works because most teams get out of line.
‘Against Bristol we completely changed our defensive system. I think adaptability is important, and there aren’t many teams doing that right now. This week we made adjustments again, but the basic principles remained the same.’
When he took up his new role, McGuigan and the Sale team agreed that ‘defending is 80 per cent attitude’. An important aspect of his job is motivation. A system can’t be effective without players finding the will to implement it to its full potential, and that requires coaches to push the right buttons at the right time. As someone who emphasizes the importance of human connection and care for players, this is something McGuigan loves. It’s about finding the right way to light your inner fire.
‘We can’t just think it’s going to happen,’ he said. ‘We know Gloucester are now thinking this is going to be a massive game. Facing a team at home that looked great last week is easy motivation. So what motivates us? You need to create an edge like that. You need to make sure your message is clear. I have to make sure my players know what the opponent’s heartbeat is and how we take that away from them.’
That’s certainly what Sale did to Bristol and what they will try to do to Gloucester. Ben Curry’s relentless effort and defiant streak earned him a clean sheet at Ashton Gate, and the skipper explained how he and his fellow Sharks like to man the barricades.
‘We have a team that wants to attack. ‘We especially want to hit the forwards,’ he said. ‘Byron is in. A few of us have played with him and he is a great guy, very detailed. It gives you the freedom to go and attack. As a player, he’s perfect. The defense can be very simple. Essentially, it’s about winning more physical contact than the other team.
‘It’s also about making sure everyone is on the same page. It takes several weeks to build the necessary trust in each other and in the system. ‘Byron is five or six weeks old now, so it didn’t happen overnight.’
Sale don’t think they’ve cracked it, but under McGuigan’s dedicated and detailed supervision, the ‘Angry Sharks’ are hovering near the top of the Premiership table again as they put on their armor and prepare for another war in the West.
