Louis Rees-Zammit admitted he was “a bit gutted” not to record a hat-trick against Northampton Saints on Saturday following his altercation with Tommy Freeman.
The Welsh wing had already secured a brace of tries in the barnstorming Bristol Bears display at Ashton Gate before Freeman cynically took out Rees-Zammit to concede a penalty try and be sent to the sin-bin.
It was the last act of the game and deprived an annoyed Rees-Zammit a hat-trick, with the 23-year-old letting Freeman know exactly what he thought as he made his way off the pitch.
Rees-Zammit's reaction
“It was just fire in my belly to score a hat-trick,” Rees-Zammit said post-match of his reaction. “I’m good friends with Tommy and it’s all love after, but in the moment I was a bit gutted.”
Rees-Zammit's coach Pat Lam said after the game that the speedster was happy to be back playing in his natural position.
“He is sharp, you know, and he loves finishing,” Lam said. “We know that if we can give him time and space, he is lethal. He is back on the wing and most importantly that is where he wants to be.”
Jibulu ready to explode on Test scene
Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson is backing Nathan Jibulu to make his England debut in time to be considered for next year’s World Cup after acclaiming his star turn against Saracens.
Jibulu was named man of the match in the 21-17 Gallagher Prem victory at StoneX Stadium following a rampaging performance that was accompanied by accuracy at the line-out.
The 23-year-old excelled with England head coach Steve Borthwick watching from the stands as the picture at hooker became more complicated.
Jamie George was also in the Saracens crowd because of a pubic bone problem, his understudy Theo Dan limped off injured and Sale’s Luke Cowan-Dickie was rested to manage his knees.
Sanderson said: “Any time you watch Nathan play he makes an impact. He takes meters either side of the ball and we knew that he had that in him. He was a wrecking ball and caused havoc around the field. He nailed his line-outs and showed he’s of international class.
“You can get away with being fast and skilful in the Prem, but it’s another level again in terms of the power that’s required at international level and he’s got that ability. He’s immensely strong.
“This could be the season when he explodes onto the international scene. Theo Dan’s a great player but it doesn’t seem that anyone’s snatching that position after Cowan-Dickie or George. There’s been a lot of rotation between those two and with England wanting to build into a World Cup, this could be it for him, a good opportunity.”
Sale were reduced to 13 men for three minutes of the first half after Jacques Vermeulen was shown a 20-minute red card and Alex Lozowski was sent to the sin bin, both for high tackles.
Yet they still brought Saracens to heel, dominating the second half at a ground where they had lost on 13 of their previous 15 visits.
Sanderson said: “Resilience breeds trust and fosters belief. They now have the knowledge they can get through moments like that.”
Saracens' struggles
Saracens impressed in their opening-weekend victory over Leicester but this lifeless display was a backwards step.
Head coach Joe Shaw said: “We couldn’t really get into our flow, that’s the truth of it. Credit to Sale, they came and fronted up. They had adversity, which we had last weekend, but they kept coming. We have to take it on the chin and move on.”
Danny Care says the "powers that be" are letting the players down at Saracens.
The north London club have started the PREM season with a narrow win at Leicester followed by a bruising defeat to Sale last weekend.
The campaign has been overshadowed by director of rugby Brendan Venter refusing to do media duties, resulting in fines and the club changing his job title to 'head of rugby culture and wine consultant' in a bizarre stunt. It has since been clarified that he is now head of culture and technical director.
Care believes that has been a distraction to the players.
"They're putting the players under more pressure with off-field antics", Care told the BBC. "The lads don't want a part of any of that, they just want to play. There was all this chat of Sarries pushing for top four again, and having this amazing team and culture again. I just think some of the powers that be at the top have let the players down."
