Following repeated supplication from the Major, I resolved to scrawl something which I hope to be of interest but mainly I hope it’ll keep the message board open for another couple of weeks.

This could be the season when people stop calling us Stockport French and start calling us Stockport Welsh now that we have Ross Davies, Dwayne Peel, Brent Cockbain, Eifion Roberts, Marc Jones, Nick McLeod, Lee Thomas and Kingsley Jones on the strength.

So pre-season begins with a journey to Midi-Pyrenees where the dedicated few will see the lads in Millau, St Affrique and Camarès as we take part in Challenge Vaquerin.  Games against Perpignan who finished 4th in T14 and Montpellier who pushed us hard in the European Cup and went on to finish 8th in T14 should prove interesting.  Always hard to judge how well the season will go from these pre-season junkets but vital match fitness is there to be gained.  One suspects it’ll be pretty tough, hard grounds and long hot days are bound to take a toll on the minds and bodies of the Sharks players (and supporters !)

The next match is a value for money double header.

It’ll be hard to work out what’s going on, on the pitch on Friday 22nd August as the Jets play host to Sedgeley Park.  How things have changed, it seems a long time since I ran out onto the pitch in Whitefield in the dim and distant days of ‘friendly’ rugby.  Still the Tigers will provide formidably opposition for the Jets and it will stand Sedgeley in good stead for the start of their new season.

Later on that evening the first team squad will face Leeds.  Despite being last term’s whipping boys the Tykes will want to put up a good show and I suspect that, as PSA tries to give game time to the whole first team squad, Leeds will find some dominance and move scarily, space for young Tom Biggs.  The new coaching team of Neil “the hand of” Back and Andy Key will be keen to put down a marker for the rest of ND1 to see, I suspect this could be a good game.

And finally Pro D2 outfit Lyon (LOU Rugby, Lyon Olympique Universitaire) come to town on Thursday 28th August.  A totally unknown quantity, unless Riggers la bière can help !  What we do know is that Lyon came 4th in last year’s Pro D2 behind run away winners Toulon, Metro Racing and Mont do Marsan (also promoted).  So they won’t be a push over but clearly not as well funded as Toulon (who is ??).

So that’s three home pre-season matches for us to wonder about, watch and then discuss (whether it’s on here or in the pub).  Like most of you, I can’t wait for the season proper to start but this little lot will do fine as an aperitif.

To quote PSA - Commenting on the warm up games Sale Sharks Director of Rugby Philippe Saint Andre said, “The Challenge Vaquerin will be very tough for us but will help the players in their preparation for the new season. The double header on Friday 22nd August will give me the opportunity to look at all my players in action on the same evening. It will also give us the opportunity to learn and put into practice the Experimental Law Variations (ELV’s). Places are up for grabs for the new season and it should be a great night for the supporters too.”

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