Middlesex sevens

The Sharks/Jets team which travelled to Twickenham this weekend put in a fine performance, but were eventually knocked out by Lndon Irish in the quarter finals.

Sale beat Bayonne

The touring Sharks left Bayonne victorious, following a 22-17 win. Sharks scores came mostly from the boot of Charlie Hodgson, finally back in a sharks jersey. He scored five penalties, and his replacement Rhys Jones kicked a sixth. The only try came from Michael Hills.

Sharks in action

This weekend sees the Middlesex 7s tournament take place at Twickenham. As usual, Sale are sending a fresh-faced team. Coach for this tournament seems to be Pete Anglesea, so despite appearing as a Sharks team, most are Jets.

The squad is: Andy Vilk (Captain), Selorm Kuadey, Mike Waywell, Will Cliff, Garth Dew, Chris Leck, Chris Parrott, Timo Iosua, James Jones, Matt Riley, Glen Townson and Danny Birchall

Of course this weekend also sees many current international Sharks battling it out in pre-World Cup friendlies.

Those who remain with Philipe Saint Andre will be travelling to Bayonne for a friendly. Philipe has promised that Magnus Lund and Charlie Hodgson are touring. No doubt this will be a development game where all 29 touring players will get some game time ahead of the first home match, on the 24th.

Best of luck to all concerned.

England RWC Squad

Brian Ashton just announced his world cup squad, and it features three Sharks: Jason Robinson, Mark Cueto and Andrew Sheridan. Congratulations to all three.

World cup Sharks

In the England camp there are mixed fortunes for Sharks players, with Andy Sheridan being one of the few players in the squad who can confidently predict he will be going to France. Departing hero Jason Robinson too can be assured a place in the squad.

Cueto embarrassingly pulled a muscle in the warm-up against Wales and may not make the final cut. Things look unpromising too for Charlie Hodgson, with Olly Barkley having let slip some unfortunate comments in a press conference this week, to the effect that he will be sorry to see Charlie go. Sale fans, to a man, have be saying that England’s loss is our gain. We all fee desperately sorry for the man, who has spent the best part of a year recovering from an injury sustained on England duty.

There have been plenty of injuries in the England camp, one of which has meant a late call up to the squad for Richard Wigglesworth, as cover for the third place scrum half role. Best of luck to him. Here's hoping he gets some game time.

In other teams Sebasitan Chabal has been slotted into the French team as their mascot/lock/number 8, and will doubtless be a star of the tournament. The English fans love him, the NZ fans love him - we just need Laporte to start picking him. At number 8 for a change!
Jason White, in contrast to Hodgson, has recovered from his knee injury and slotted firmly back in place as Scotland captain. He will be playing alongside our Lamont and Lawson.

For Argentina the imperious Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe and his big brother Ignacio will make a powerful difference.

Samoa, set to play the Sharks on the 24th and England in the pool stages of the cup, will feature our very own Elvis Seviali'i.

Finally, of course, New Zealand's back line will, we hope, be lit up by new signing Luke McAlister.