By Sarah Braide
October 31 2002

We really need to beat Bristol on Friday. We have been on a losing streak with three defeats on the trot, against Bourgoin, Glasgow and Newcastle, and it has to stop! But the news that Charlie Hodgson has to have a knee operation is a real blow. We would all like to think that Sale can manage without Charlie, and last season's success in both Europe and the league would indicate that we are more than a one man team. But since he was injured this season our results have consistently been disappointing. It seems my (perhaps pessimistic) view is shared by a number of you out there because in last week's poll, two thirds of voters answered that 'Yes' to the question of whether Sale are lost without Charlie.

Jim Mallinder said:

“Fortunately, it is a pretty straight-forward procedure rather than major surgery so Charlie should be back in action within a month."

And Charlie himself explained:

"If all goes according to plan, I should be back in training quite soon and, hopefully, will be back in time for our two games against Llanelli in the Heineken European Cup in December.

“I damaged the knee when I was tackled by Justin Bishop just before Steve Hanley scored a try against London Irish. I got up and took the conversion but I think I was simply running on adrenalin.

“The surgery is more of a cleaning out job rather than anything else.”

However it would be wrong to focus too solely on one player. Nick Walshe has been improving at fly-half and his kicking is also getting more reliable. On Friday, centre Graeme Bond will make his Heywood Road debut, and reports suggest that Iain Fullarton will soon be back to fitness.

Jim Mallinder was honest about the state of the team:

“There were signs of improvement in some areas at Newcastle on Sunday but there is still a long way to go.”

Bristol are down at bottom place in the league but they did beat Montferrand the other weekend so they are dangerous.

Finally, it is interesting to note that on the Bristol site their poll shows that 80% of respondants are against Friday night rugby.

Sale Squad: Jason Robinson, Vaughan Going, Mark Cueto, Steve Hanley, Graeme Bond, Mel Deane, Dan Harris, Nick Walshe, Bryan Redpath capt, Jim Thorp, Kevin Yates, Barry Stewart, Stuart Turner, Andy Titterrell, Charl Marais, Dean Schofield, Christian Day, Chris Jones, Apollo Perelini, M! agnus Lund, Stuart Pinkerton, Phil Davies, Pete Anglesea.

Question: Are we lost without Charlie?
Yes, always 67%
Yes, but Walshe improving 25%
No 8%

Sale v Bristol kick-off is 7.45pm at Heywood Road.