Friends lock horns as the north seeks a younger audience

Newcastle visit Sale on the back of 24-match losing streak in a region where the sport must fight for a future

- Robert Kitson

It is supposed to be a snarling northern "derby" but, in reality, Sale's date with Newcastle tonight is a case of friends reunited. The Sharks' Alex Sanderson and the Falcons' Steve Diamond take their respective eight-year-olds to the same swimming class every week and have been mates for so long they know pretty much exactly what the other is plotting.

Sanderson, in particular, has been warning his squad they will need to be up for the fight against their bottom-placed, winless opponents: "They're already talking survival, food on plates and roofs over heads; we've got to match their emotional levels." Diamond, for his part, has been busy stripping down his side's tactics to the barest essentials to counter Sale's big pack and territory-based game. "We're not even competitive at the moment," he says. "There's still players here who don't understand what we're trying to do on game day."

Both men are equally aware, though, of the wider picture surrounding the fixture. There is no Premier League football this weekend and, alongside the Super League grand final involving Wigan and Hull KR at Old Trafford, the oval ball has a precious window in which to seize the imagination of a youthful northern audience.