Local Derby A Must-Win for Sale Sale Sharks

Sale flanker Dave Seymour has spelt out the importance of tonight's Samurai Derby clash with Exeter by declaring: "It's a game we simply have to win."

The Sharks' flying start to the season was rudely interrupted on Saturday when they crashed to a sobering 24-3 defeat at a depleted Harlequins. Sale had gone into the weekend quietly confident of producing a shock result.

Instead, their third league loss, combined with other results, saw Steve Diamond's men slip down to seventh place in the Premiership. It won't get any easier back at the AJ Bell Stadium with Exeter having climbed into the top four after their 40-6 thrashing of hapless Worcester on Saturday.

But with the mid-table hinterland now heavily congested – just five points separate sixth from 11th – Seymour believes the importance of Friday's clash cannot be overstated. 

"We have a tight turnaround now for Exeter and we simply have to get a result on Friday before we go into the LV Cup," declared Seymour. "As a squad we had said we needed to win at least one of these two Premiership games and Saturday didn't go our way so it's all about Exeter now. We've started well but it doesn't mean anything if you can't maintain that form and that's our big thing and why we simply have to get a result on Friday night."

"It doesn't matter what your past form is it's all about how you perform on the day. It's all about the four points and the challenge for us is to front up and step up on Friday. We set our own goals and expect a lot of ourselves and we slipped up on Saturday so we will have a long hard look at ourselves."

However, just as no-one at Sale was getting carried away by their impressive start, equally Seymour says no-one will hit the panic button after their capital let-down. And last season's Sharks captain believes he and his colleagues can take a leaf out of Harlequins book as they look to get back on the horse and bounce back to winning ways. "The way we lost at Harlequins was hugely disappointing as we had talked all week about what an opportunity it was," Seymour added.

"We had a strong squad out there and we had come off a good couple of wins and had the momentum with us so we let ourselves down really. However, we're confident and what we have achieved in the first four of five games hasn't been a fluke so we have to believe in ourselves. Maybe we can take a leaf out of Quins' book. They've stuck to their beliefs and the way they play even though their results hadn't been going their way before they played us. It's the same for us. We have to believe in how we played for those first seven weeks and why we have been getting the results we have. And there's no better place than getting a result at home."

Courtesy of Manchester Evening News