When Sale Sharks hosted Newcastle Falcons in October, the game was drawing its final breaths when Marland Yarde suffered a catastrophic knee injury, writes Billy Brake.
The 27-year-old ruptured his MCL and ACL ligaments and dislocated his knee while making a tackle in the 76th minute of the Sharks’ 20-7 win at the AJ Bell Stadium.
It not only put him out of action for the remainder of the season but scuppered any hopes he may have had of making England’s squad for this year’s Rugby World Cup in Japan.
Losing one of their key attacking assets was a huge blow for Sale as Yarde was forced to knuckle down on the long road to recovery, working with Philadelphia-based specialist Bill Knowles.
That season ultimately ended with a creditable seventh-place finish for the Sharks, who were unlucky to miss out on fourth by one point behind Northampton, Harlequins and Bath.
And having been absent for so much of Sale’s campaign last year, Yarde is desperate to help his team climb further up the table now he is back to somewhere near full fitness.
“To be out for a full year has been quite challenging but I’ve just building confidence,” he said. “I was feeling pretty good post the injury and post-rehab and was glad to play a full 80 minutes.
“I feel pretty good physically and fitness-wise. Obviously playing off the bench for a few games is probably good for me in terms of integrating, but now I’ve started playing again it’s good.
“I’m just thinking about playing well for Sale and picking up performances and winning. That’s why we’re here, to win games, so I’m focused on doing that and improving week on week.
“I’m feeling good and feeling comfortable out there and I feel I’m closer to my best so I’m really excited about getting out there again.”
Sale have had some difficult results to take this campaign, narrowly losing to both Gloucester Rugby on opening weekend and to Bristol Bears in week three before defeating Wasps last weekend.
“It’s one of those ones where we should have won the games we lost,” Yarde continued. “Being 13-0 up against Gloucester, we should’ve closed that one out.
“The Bristol game, I don’t think we fired at all until the 60th minute really. I don’t think any player got more than one or two carries in that first hour, we just got caught in a difficult battle.
“We’re in a stage now where even if we aren’t playing well we’re still picking up points so I think at the end of the season those points are all going to add up well for us.”
While Yarde’s happy to be back playing regular rugby, he is keen to stress the quality of the squad Steve Diamond has built for the 2019/20 season – and is predicting big things for the Sharks.
“I think we’ve got a far better squad than we’ve had probably ever, we’ve got players in every position that can cover and there’s not going to be a level of drop off in performance,” he said.
“We’re playing a good type of running rugby that people will enjoy watching and as long as we keep striving to get better every week, I think we’ll be in a good place.
“To look at our team and the squad we have now, we’re not really looking just to make the Champions Cup, we want to win the league, but it’s going to be really hard.
“Stuff like losing the first game after being two tries up doesn’t help our cause, but as long as we’re learning from that, keep getting points and winning games, we’ll put ourselves in a good position.”
The return of World Cup winner Faf de Klerk and finalist Tom Curry will certainly boost Sale’s strength in the coming weeks – with Yarde quick to sing their praises.
“They’re great players, Tom’s had a great World Cup and they’ll be disappointed with how the final went. But it’s about integrating those players as quickly as possible,” he said.
“It’s also on them to get zoned in as quickly as possible. But players like Faf, he’s going to be on top of the world, coming back in full of confidence, so that can only do us good as a team with him playing in the integral position he’s in at scrum-half.
“We know he’s quality and what he can do, so that’ll be great with us. And Tom, he’s a young player and still full of beans so he’ll want to come back and prove himself.
“He’s a great player and he’ll be back ready to go again. We’ve all got one goal and that’s to be in the top four at the end of the season, challenging for the Premiership.”
Yarde has also got one eye on adding to his 13 England caps, having not turned out in the famous Red Rose jersey since playing against Argentina in Santa Fe back in June 2017.
But first there’s the small matter of Sale’s return to the Heineken Champions Cup to keep him occupied, starting off with games against Glasgow Warriors and La Rochelle.
“When I got injured the first thing I thought about was not being able to make the squad for the World Cup,” Yarde added when questioned about his Japan disappointment.
“But off the back of that, after the first couple of weeks, it was just about getting back to full fitness and now I’ve done that and I’m playing now, I just want to focus on week on week and on my personal performance.
“I know if I’m performing to the level I can then I give myself every chance of making the England squad, but I’m not trying to think about that too much.
“We’re here to win games so I’m going to focus on doing that and improving week on week, feeling more happy and comfortable in my body. Long may that continue and we’re hoping for some big performances in the coming weeks.”
Comments