Saint-Andre very proud of bold Sharks
Sun, 12 Oct 2008 12:49
Philippe Saint-Andre was full of praise for his Sale Sharks following their Heineken Cup opening round win in Clermont on Saturday but warned them the job was still far from done.
Sale, inspired by Luke McAlister, put on a fantastic performance to run out 32-15 winner in France but it was not without some cost though.
Dwayne Peel look set to miss next weekends clash with Irish giants Munster while centre Lee Thomas could face up to six weeks out with a shoulder injury.
"Lee Thomas has damaged his shoulder and he could need surgery but Peel could recover in time to play against Munster if we are lucky," said Saint-Andre.
The Director of Rugby said he had been particularly pleased with his sides’ attitude, believing it had been key in inspiring the team to their best showing for a number of years.
"If you come here and you're not bold, you lose by 40 points," he said.
"When we had the ball we tried to attack and be adventurous and I'm very proud of my team after seeing them put on their best performance in Europe and the best I've seen since we won the Premiership final (against Leicester some three years ago)."
While obviously keen for his players to enjoy their great success in Clermont-Ferrand Saint-Andre reminded them that one good result would mean nothing if it was followed up with a poorone just a week later.
"Now, we have to prove we can put two big performances back to back by beating Munster. If we win here and lose at home to Munster, the hard work we did here will count for very little."
