By BrianC
October 11 2006

This week we have a brief return to Premiership action and our first taste of a Sunday home fixture. Our opponents are arguably the best team in the land at present, Sale.

Sale went down at Leicester in their opening game of the season but have since recorded five straight wins. In the Premiership they have won at home to Saints and Saracens and away to Worcester. In the EDF Cup they top their group having beaten Newcastle at home and Quins at the Stoop. It is no surprise that they are the bookies favourites to top the table come the end of the season.

Last season Sale managed a double over us. In September we were well and truly thumped at Edgeley Park 29 - 3. Our return match, the St. Patrick’s fixture, was not as bad but the 21 – 29 defeat did take some of the fizz out of our celebrations. Our last victory over them was two years ago. That was a remarkable night, once where the Steven Dean match report spell yet again worked, as we won 16 - 17 at Edgeley Park.

Sale Director of Rugby Philippe Saint-Andre has built up an impressive squad in recent years. Charlie Hodgson, the highest paid player in English rugby, is likely to be joined by a host of internationals including Jason Robinson, Mark Cueto and Sebastien Chabal. Perhaps less welcome in some LI circles will be the return to Madejski soil of Chris Jones who some felt was lucky not to get cited after he crocked Chris O’Sheasby a couple of seasons ago.

Against such a strong line up what are our chances? Before I watched our pretty poor performance last week I would have said not bad. Whispers on the Sale site are that the team has not yet clicked into gear. The backs in particular have come in for criticism this season.

We’ve been struggling to find our form this season, this was particularly apparent last Sunday at Wasps. Handling errors seem to be to the fore again and our lack of discipline cost us dear. If anything the 23 – 13 scoreline flattered us. Should we play like that this Sunday we will be well and truly mullered.

A win would surely take us into the top half of the table which is where we need to be if we wish to be there or thereabouts come May. After this match we move into HC action for the rest of the month so wherever we find ourselves come Sunday night is where we’ll be until November.

The big question is, Are we up for Sale?