For the past three seasons, Sale Sharks have been flying the flag as the northern powerhouse in English rugby.
But this current campaign has left Sale battered and bruised and those foundations have been severely tested.
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“It’s been the longest, hardest, most challenging season I’ve ever had,” admitted director of rugby Alex Sanderson.
They ended up finishing in seventh place after winning just five of their 18 Prem games, leaving them 27 points outside the play-off places.
With a league winless streak all season and just one win on the road, the 2025-26 version of the Sharks was unlike any that had been shown before.
But is it the beginning of a decline or just a fade in the Sales road?
The northwest club won its only title in 2006, with stars like Jason Robinson and Sebastian Chabal. Since taking over from Steve Diamond as director of rugby at the start of 2021, Sanderson, a former Sale player, has been trying to recreate that success.
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They reached the final again in 2023 but lost to Saracens at Twickenham, and were beaten in the semi-finals of the play-offs in both 2024 and 2025.
No other team matched that consistency as Sale were the only team to finish in the top four in those campaigns, with their 38 wins the most of any team in the regular season.
They couldn’t make the biggest jump, but they were firmly tied to the upper echelons.
Injuries play a role as the wheels come off
With two wins from their opening three games in the 2025-26 season, it looked like it would be more of the same for Sale, but from then on, the wheels came off.
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It started with a 65-14 rout of Saracens in October as young wing Noah Caluori ran for five tries on his first Prem start.
But it was surprising to lose at home to Exeter Chiefs 27-26 in November which revealed that there are problems as the hosts failed to lead by 20 points at the beginning of the second half to suffer their first defeat at home this season.
CorpAcq Stadium has been a sell-out powerhouse, but this season they have lost more games there than they have won. Defeat at home to Northampton Saints in January effectively ended their top four hopes with eight games remaining.
In 2026, they suffered the biggest defeat in the club’s history – a 77-7 thrashing of star-studded French giants Toulouse in the Champions Cup in January, and an 85-19 humiliation at home to Saracens in April as Caluori helped himself to five more tries.
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Success at Harlequins six days after that clash was Sale’s only win in The Prem and gave them breathing room in securing a top eight spot and a place in the Champions Cup next season.
But relegation leads to losses at both Gloucester and Newcastle Red Bulls – two of the three sides to finish below – in the final weeks of the campaign showed that Sale has lost the edge of previous campaigns.
Sale has scored 10 tries for Saracens winger Noah Caluori alone in two Prem games this season. [Getty Images]
As befits a campaign that has gone badly, injuries played a big role.
Sale’s England core has almost all spent a long time on the treatment table and is not available for selection.
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Twin backs Tom and Ben Curry, winner Tom Roebuck, Asher Opoku-Fjordjour, and in recent weeks, fellow front rowers Bevan Rodd and Luke Cowan-Dickie, have all missed large chunks of action.
The training ground was also affected. Marco Bortolami stepped down as head coach in December after six months at the club, while defense coach Byron McGuigan began an assignment with England in October before leaving for sale in March.
Sanderson said he has been tested like never before, but with the support of owner Simon Orange, he has real confidence that things will turn around.
“In difficult times, difficulties, you get to see who stands up in terms of leaders,” said Sanderson.
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“The younger guys have to stand up, they did, and you see who’s in your corner and for what reasons.
“For all those things, I’m very grateful, for studying the lessons hard and I’m very optimistic about the future.”
Sale have strengthened their squad for next season by signing England players Courtney Lawes, Joe Marchant and Alex Lozowski, as well as Wales forwards Nicky Smith and Thomas Francis, to add experience and ease the pressure on the club’s promising homegrown players.
Alex Sanderson has been managing Sale for five and a half years [Getty Images]
‘Bright future’
While it looks bleak at the moment, Sale can take solace in the fact that all four of Prem’s top four this season have had bleak years in the past.
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Just 12 months ago, Northampton Saints and Exeter Chiefs were in eighth and ninth place respectively. Leicester Tigers were bottom eight years ago, while Bath moved up the whole division in 2022.
And it’s the way those clubs bounced back, and dealing with what happened this season, that gives Sanderson the belief to get back on the field.
“To some extent, you have to hit the ground to learn,” he told BBC Sport.
“It has to be painful and it’s very important for all the changes you have to make when you’re at the bottom of the table. It puts you in a good position to move forward.
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“Therefore, I think that this season will explain to us, not the loss, but what the future will be like.
