Sharks plot their path to Euro success
Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:11
The Guinness Premiership is looming large, with Round One of the 2008/09 season getting underway on Saturday. However, it is on the European stage where the Sale Sharks hope to leave the biggest impression.
Having qualified for the Heineken Cup competition, courtesy of their fifth place in last season's Premiership, the Manchester-based club now look to take their game to the next level - on both the English domestic stage and in Europe.
Former South African Under-23 star Rudi Keil, now in the second of a two-year contract with Sale, revealed the team's goals for the forthcoming season.
Their campaign starts with an away game in the Premiership, against Newcastle Falcons on Saturday, and it is not till October - when they meet French giants Clermont Auvergne - that they get to compete in the Heineken Cup competition.
On the European stage they have been drawn in Pool 1 - which include defending champions Munster, Clermont and Montauban.
But they are determined to make a fist of it, according to the 30-year-old Sharks midfielder.
Having just made a full recovery from minor back surgery - to rectify a bulging disk - he will miss this week's opening round of the Premiership, but hopes to be back in the selection frame when the Sharks hosts Saracens at Edgeley Park in Round Two.
"I took a knock to the knee and from limping I was unbalanced. Then, when I went to gym, I was pushing heavy weights and twisted it [my back] at a wrong angle. It caused a slip, bulging disk," he said, adding that it was a minor surgical procedure and he his in great shape, ready for the new season.
He also declared the Sharks ready to "rock and roll" in the new season.
"We are confident about the season ahead," he told rugby365.com in an interview from Manchester.
"We've got a fantastic squad. Obviously we were disappointed with our fifth place [in the Premiership, a single point behind fourth-placed Leicester Tigers - who overtook them in the last round].
"It wasn't fantastic, and we knew it as players. It was a very disruptive year, because out of all the clubs we did have the most players away on national duty - at the World Cup and Six Nations."
He felt that even though they missed the play-offs, having qualified to play in the Heineken Cup is a big achievement.
"Although we weren't proud of our fifth place [in the Premiership], it was a step better than the year previous season," he said, adding that the Sharks are no looking to take it to the next level.
"This year we've had a fantastic build-up to the season. We've had a fantastic warm-up [pre-season], where we had a few games in France - where we had a pre-season training camp.
"It [the French trip] paid off very well with regards to team spirit and the way the team has pulled together," he said of a venture across the English channel.
He made it clear that they are not targeting just the Heineken Cup or just the Premiership, as some clubs tend to do. They are going all out for the double.
"For sure, those are the goals we've set," he said of chasing glory both in Europe and on the domestic scene.
"Qualifying to play in the Heineken Cup this season was a major achievement," he said, adding: "It is like the Super 14 of the Northern Hemisphere ... you want to be playing in that as it is the most prestigious and it is a fantastic competition."
Keil has played for the Cats in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competitions - apart from his stints with the Johannesburg-based Lions, the South Western Districts Eagles, Worcester, Boland Cavaliers, the Durban-based Sharks, Gloucester and now Sale.
He is certainly well placed to pass judgment on the differences between the standards in the two hemispheres and feels that whatever gap there may have existed in the past is no longer.
"Northern Hemisphere rugby has picked up a lot, whether that is with the influx of Southern Hemisphere players I don't know, but the level of rugby has really stepped up," he told rugby365.com.
Keil, who made it clear that his loyalty is with the Sharks for at least another year, has not ruled out the possibility of returning to his native, South Africa in the future.
His family and girlfriend are based in Cape Town, but for now his 'home' is in Manchester.
"I'm always open to any opportunity," Keil said about his plans after his Sale contract expires.
"I am loyal to whatever jersey I wear and I still have another year on my contract here [at the Sharks], so when the time comes I will look at the options available.
"You hope to guarantee yourself that there are options available at the end of a contract era," he said about the quality of his own game.
"I've got a great relationship with Sale Sharks and I get on very well with them here. I'm happy with what I've done and what I'm doing and that obviously is where my loyalties are at the moment.
"Right now I'm focussing with this season ahead at Sale Sharks."
* Keil was speaking to rugby365.com, in a telephone interview, during a Land Rover sponsored event in Manchester. Land Rover is the official vehicle of England Rugby and Premier Rugby.
By Jan de Koning
