Sharks lucky to have 'exceptional' van Rhyn

SALE Sharks director of rugby Alex Sanderson has admitted that he is very lucky to have Ernst van Rhyn.

- KIERAN CRICHARD

He has been superb since his move from the Stormers over the summer and Sanderson is delighted to have van Rhyn at his disposal.

He said: "There is a little bit of luck because we didn't assume he would be this good. He is an exceptional player of unbelievable consistency and robustness. We are so lucky. We get the clips, we watch them individually all of us. We have a conversation about it, how he moves and hits. We then have two or three longer conversations about the kind of person he is, what drives him, some of the values he has as a player.He talked about his father. He wears work-rate as a badge and I said you are the one for me. He lived with Cobus Wiese when he was a bit younger.