Well, maybe not. The opening fixture, away at Welford Road, illustrated just how good the Premiership Final performance had been. With a superior pack and keeping the game tight, Tigers were always on top, and we went down to a four try defeat. That’s always possible at Welford Road, though, and there was a feeling that the season didn’t really start until the next weekend, where we won a tetchy game against Northampton Saints at Edgeley Park, on form Charlie Hodgson penalising an ill-disciplined Saints side as he kicked 22 points. That was more like it and, with a visit to early-season strugglers Worcester next, we were hopeful that things would be back on track. First half tries from Jason White and Chris Bell sent us in 15-3 up at half time, but Worcester were far from finished. A Warriors try and a Chris Jones sin-binning brought them back to 13-15, and it was only with five minutes to go that a Mark Cueto try killed them off. September’s fixtures ended with the visit of Saracens and RU new boy, Andy Farrell to Edgeley Park. The crowd was swelled by a good number of Wigan Warriors fans though, in the event, Andy Farrell never made it on to the pitch. Sale took an early lead as Saracens’ indiscipline reduced them to 13 men early in the second half, then weathered a fightback, and finally a Corcho try and Hodgson penalty made the game safe. Comfortably in the Premiership’s top four, four points behind leaders Bristol, and with only one defeat from four games, things looked OK.

After a break, the Premiership resumed in mid October, and a blend of sharp attacking play and sloppy London Irish defending gave Mark Cueto, Mark Taylor and Oriol Ripol tries before half time at the Madjeski Stadium. Oriol Ripol then secured the try bonus and a comfortable 14-31 win in the second half, as the expected Irish fightback never materialised. In a no-holds-barred encounter at Edgeley Park, but with both sides depleted, Daniel Larrachea, filling in for Charlie Hodgson at 10, kicked four penalties from four and dropped a goal to see off Wasps 18-9. The next week, down at Bristol in the murk, we got a taste of our own medicine though, losing a kicking duel 15-9. The wobbles then continued at home as, for the third game running we failed to score a try and went down 18-26 to 9th placed Falcons in a dour game we never looked like winning. To make our misery complete, Charlie Hodgson, Jason White and Andrew Sheridan all suffered long term injuries while they were away on international duty, losses which in the end were to shape the whole season. The impact wasn’t obvious at first though, as we ended November with a 17-12 home win over Harlequins. A fine fly-half display from Daniel Larrachea, and a try from Magnus Lund, our first in the Premiership for more than a month, saw us home in spite of a second half comeback from Quins.   

In the runup to Christmas, a cold and foggy Rec saw us take a narrow half time lead, but we couldn’t hold on and finally lost 18-16 to Bath. Travelling to the other end of the country for a Boxing Day game against Newcastle Falcons, we fought back in the first half after a poor start, but then lost an eight try classic thanks to a Toby Flood kicking masterclass. The misery continued at home as we lost a dour game to Bristol, who pinched the lead with a Dan Ward-Smith try ten minutes from the end, and defended demonically to cling on to the win. A tetchy first half, with Corcho sinbinned, suggested more of the same when Gloucester came to Edgeley Park but, 3-16 down, some straight talking had an effect and tries from Chris Bell and Sebastian Bruno brought us back into the game. In injury time, Wiggy slotted a penalty and we scraped a win, 20-19. Three weeks later, we went down the M5 to Kingsholm for the return match and four Gloucester tries in 50 minutes put them 34-10 up. Sale didn’t fold though, and tries from Chris Mayor and Dean Schofield, then one final Gloucester try, gave a scoreline of 44-24. Courageous and exciting stuff maybe, but the table didn’t lie and our downwards drift continued to sixth, 14 points behind Leicester.

Down at High Wycombe, a bright start against Wasps faded as a 10-0 lead after the first quarter turned into a 26-18 defeat. Then, out-of-form London Irish came to Stockport and, with Andrew Sheridan’s return from injury, there were hopes that we might turn a corner. But no, we failed to turn possession and territory into points, Irish nicked a try, clung on for a narrow win and we slid into the lower half of the table. March began with a scrappy loss at Saracens, played in rain and mud, and in which we never really clicked, then a fired-up Worcester, given an opportunity to escape from the bottom of the table, scored two tries in a comfortable 12-18 win at Edgeley Park. The playoffs hadn’t been an issue for a while, but suddenly relegation seemed like it could be. However, with time running out, Sebastien Chabal’s chip over the defence to gather his own kick and send Chris Bell in was enough to salvage an 18-all draw at bottom of the table Northampton Saints and, perhaps, stop the rot.

A spirited performance at home to Leicester Tigers wasn’t quite enough though, as the Tigers chased three trophies, just for a change, and Sale failed to make something of a decent share of possession, finally coming up just short in a 25-26 loss and dropping to tenth place. Against Bath, in the last home game of the season, it looked like it was all going horribly wrong as Bath scored twice at the start of the second half to take a 23-13 lead. But first, debutant Selorm Kuadey scored with 15 minutes left and then a piece of individual brilliance from Jason Robinson, in his final game before retirement, gave us a 25-23 win to make us safe from the drop. That set up the final game of the season, a trip to the Stoop where an inexperienced team, with nothing in particular to play for and dreaming of summer holidays after a hard season, was on the wrong end of a six try hammering in the spring sunshine as Harlequins turned on the style.

Regular season summary-

Played 22 Won 8 Drawn 1 Lost 13
Points for 414 Points against 500
Tries for 33 Tries against 44
Try bonus 2 Losing bonus 6
Total points 42

Highest league position 2
Lowest league position 11
Final league position 10

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