Sale have spent the last nine years at Edgeley Park sharing with football side Stockport County having moved there from their original home at Heywood Road. The Sharks move was confirmed last week after they reached an agreement with the ground’s owners Peel Holdings and Salford City Council. The stadium is only marginally larger than Edgeley Park at 12,000 seats. But with the ability to expand to 20,000 and the Rugby specific facilities the move is a step in very much the right direction for Sale.

Sale had the option to redevelop their current Stockport home, a move which would have been opposed by tenants and long term residents of Edgeley, Stockport County. The Sharks have been very public with their hopes to move to Salford in order to re launch themselves as a major European force from next season. Their desires for a top 6 finish and a return to the Heineken Cup rely on a strong finish to the campaign, with victory over Bath on Friday night setting them in the right direction ahead of a trip to Gloucester next week and a visit from Harlequins in the final game of the season.

Sale’s move leaves Stockport County as Edgeley Park’s sole residents. The ground itself will remain owned by Sale’s owner Brian Kennedy. The arrival of the Sharks is also hoped to benefit Salford. The Reds’ attendances so far this season at their new home have been disappointing, regularly struggling to break through the 6,000 mark. With the Sharks and the reds sharing a ground it will be hoped supporters of the two sides will try out the other code every so often. The winner, will surely be Rugby of both codes in Manchester.

Sale Sharks Video clip Rating: / 5

The Sharks put on the first open day at their new ground at the weekend and the supporters turned out in huge numbers to provide their backing for the move. There will be a number of further open days and if the levels of support remain the same the move will prove to be a fantastic one for Sale. The £500,000 figure is simply season tickets sold on the day of the open day as revealed by Sharks’ Chief Executive Steve Diamond after the event.

“We were absolutely blown away by the response of the supporters”, said Diamond, who made the move one of his main targets on his appointment as Chief Exec. He went on to describe how the club were “delighted by the response”.

Aside from the move Sale are also now looking for a new Director of Rugby, following Diamond’s move upstairs and the sacking of Head Coach Tony Hanks. Bryan Redpath, who recently resigned as Gloucester boss, is the early favourite but there are some big names set to meet with the Sharks boss this week. John Kirwan and Eddie O’Sullivan are amongst those rumoured to be in the frame for the Sharks’ job.

Sale are aiming to have their new man in place by the end of the season, but if rumours are to be believed there is every chance an appointment will be imminent, although Diamond has stated that “no contracts have been signed by anyone”.

With a new stadium and a new Director of Rugby in place for next season the future is looking up for Sale. If they can secure Heineken Cup Rugby next year, who knows what they might go on to achieve.

The Sharks have confirmed on their website that they have successful negotiated a stadium sharing deal with the Salford City Reds of the Super League that will begin from the new season of the Premiership.

The Salford City Reds moved into the spanking new stadium that cost the authorities of the city of Salford a whopping £ 26 million and the stadium can hold as many as 12,000 people. The Sale Sharks recently clinched the signing of Danny Cipriani for the upcoming season and according to Steve Diamond, the Chief Executive Officer of the Sharks, this spanking new stadium might just prove to be the trump card in the negotiations for any potential signings that they might undertake.

Diamond went on to add that according to a recent poll conducted among the professional rugby players in the country, the wage came a distant third whereas the facilities came first in the list of demands for the players and this might just help them in the signing of new players. Diamond also confirmed that the club is extremely close to making an appointment for the Director of Rugby post at the club, with the latest rugby betting odds making Stuart Lancaster the favourite.

According to Damian Hopley, the Chief of the Rugby Players Association, this move to the new stadium with world class and state of the art facilities puts the Sale Sharks in an extremely strong position when it comes to the retention of players and signing new ones for the club from now on.

Sale Sharks Video Ranking: 5 / 5

Hanks was initially brought in half-way through last season, in June 2011, with the brief of coming up with a gameplan that fused the qualities of the players in both attack and defence.  From the lacklustre defending and fairly abject attacking on Friday it would be difficult to tell that there was indeed a plan in place!

The game started well, with Sale managing to hold their own for the first 20 minutes, but as the half went on the Sale players increasingly found themselves dragged out of position, with gaps appearing in the backline with worrying frequency.  Unfortunatley it wasn’t long before a capitulation ensued. The rugby odds online had suggested that the match would be close, but the reality was that Saracens outclassed the Sharks.

Speaking on Friday night the flamboyant MD Diamond told the press that the performance was totally unacceptable.  he added that he was unimpressed with the defensive performance.

Hanks was given his marching orders on Friday night and by Saturday morning Diamond’s stance had softened – with the MD offering his thanks for all the hard work Hanks had put in to taking Sale Sharks forwards, and admitting that the period had seen some massive changes for the north-west club, which must have been difficult to manage for the head coach.

Good luck Tony!  Hopefully we’ll get a better head coach in now!

Sale Sharks Video Ranking: / 5

Sale Sharks scored the only try of the game but paid dearly for their lack of discipline on the field which saw them lose two of their important players to the sin-bin.

Ryan Lamb scored a brilliant late drop goal in the dying minutes of the game to seal the fate of Sale Sharks as Northampton cruised to victory.

Sale Sharks had a great opportunity to draw the first blood in the match but Nick Madeod shot his forty five metre penalty attempt way wide. This error was punished upon by Northampton as Myler successfully converted his penalty to win Northampton the first points of the game.

Sale Sharks then equalised as Pisi was judged by the referee to have impeded Cueto and Macleod converted the penalty to draw points. The score remained tied in the first quarter of the match as both teams defended strongly and kept each other at bay. The game was fought equally well and was turning out to be a boring encounter but for Cato’s brilliant forty metre run as he turned defence into attack in a matter of seconds.

Northampton dominated Sale Sharks despite the presence of Sheridan and they pushed the Sale Sharks effectively but still could not threaten the try line. Northampton regained their lead at the half hour as Sale Sharks were penalised for having dragged down a forward drive and Myler converted a thirty metre penalty with great ease.

Northampton went on to score again and though Sale Sharks tried their best to keep up, they paid a heavy price for their indiscipline. The match ended with Sale Sharks losing the match 24 to 17

Sale Sharks Video Rating: / 5

The Welsh visitors’ bonus point was enough to see them through to the semi-finals, but Sale will take significant encouragement from such a hard-fought win with four crucial Aviva Premiership fixtures ahead.

England international Hendre Fourie, who could justifiably feel aggrieved to not be included in Stuart Lancaster’s plans for the RBS Six Nations, produced an inspirational performance from open-side flanker in his first ever home appearance for Sale after moving from the relegated Leeds Carnegie.

The Edgeley Park pitch had been kept safely under wraps for several days in an attempt to fight off the freeze, and in such treacherous and wintry conditions it was almost inevitable a bulldozing forward would catch the eye.

Indeed, with barely ten minutes on the clock a rolling maul resulted in a try for Fourie, which fly-half Nick Macleod converted. Macleod continued in the same metronomic vein throughout the 80 minutes, slotting five out of six kicks despite the driving sleet and snow.

Llanelli responded to Fourie’s try with two penalties to reduce the deficit to just one point, before pulling ahead through a try from prop Peter Edwards to lead 11-7 at half-time.

Sale dominated territory in the second period, however, and the ensuing infringements from the Welsh side were duly punished by Macleod. The experienced Stephen Jones could only pull penalty back in reply to Macleod’s four, as the home side closed out the game 19-14.

Sale’s attentions now turn to the Aviva Premiership, where their play-off push could be ignited or extinguished in crucial games against Worcester, Northampton, London Wasps and Exeter. The latest rugby odds suggest they will be up there competing for the Heineken Cup places come the end of the season.