Sale Sharks head to Cape Town hoping to make Champions Cup history against Stormers

Sale will look to become the first European side to win in South Africa in the Champions Cup when they head to Cape Town to face the Stormers. 

The hosts will be confident of building on their win over defending champions La Rochelle but Sharks director of rugby Alex Sanderson is hell-bent on breaking new ground.

He said: “We’ve got a job to do here. What better motivator for the boys than to make a bit of history?

“It is what we are going for. We want a home semi-final; we want to give ourselves the best chance in the best competition. We are going to throw everything at it, everything we can at this moment and time, because we want to go through, and that is the aim.”

This game comes following two losses in the Premiership for Sale, dropping them from top to fifth. And Sanderson believes that the change of focus may be the perfect thing for his Sharks to rediscover their form.

He said: “Change is as good as a rest. You only need to go back three weeks when we had beat the champs (Saracens) at home, sitting top of the league, and now you're fourth or fifth after a couple of narrow defeats, and you’ve got to remind yourself of that, that the game moves fast, and try to look at the bigger picture at times like this and understand what parts of your game have improved.

“We focused so much of this week on our own game and what should have been better against Bristol. What’s good for them is good for the Stormers.”

The Stormers pose a real challenge for the English club away from home but a large contingent of South Africans in the Sale squad will help the team feel at home. 

Sanderson said: “They’ve been excited for months, coming back here and showing their homeland to their mates. They are never more motivated than when they are playing their own kind. Rugby is like a religion here in South Africa.

“They’ve been driving the sessions, and they are really excited. When we put our best foot forward, they will be at the forefront of it."