Diamond, currently the consultant director of rugby at the Falcons, has long been associated with the Sharks thanks to decades worth of service as a former player, coach and CEO, and his son Sam is the north-west club’s onthe-ball media manager.
As the north’s two most pre-eminent clubs a keen rivalry already exists between the clubs but the Diamond factor has added further fuel to the fire ahead of the Kingston Park clash between the league’s cellar dwellers and play-off contenders.
“Let’s talk about the Dimes influence here, it is something that we are aware of but we don’t want that to influence our performance and our preparation because of the white noise, it’s omni-present,” said Sanderson, who hopes to celebrate his 100th Premiership/European game in charge of the Sharks at the Premiership final on June 8.
“It has been three years since he has been here but still he has been managing to affect conversations through the obvious intent that this is a game that they are targeting. Thanks for that, actually, Steve, because you have given me some (extra) motivation. We’ve been posting to Sam false teams as to who is starting, I think Cueto made up one of those teams to see what gets back to him.”
Bragging rights aside, Sale’s main focus is to bag five points against the winless Falcons and maintain their late promotion push with their first away win in eight outings on the road.
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