Sale will turn to their Lions tourists as they bid to start 2011 with a bang.
The Sharks will begin the New Year with a new man in charge after Mike Brewer left the club last week.
Former back row Peter Anglesea has been handed the reigns until the end of the season but his first game in charge didn’t bring the response the club’s hierarchy were after as Sale shipped eight tries in defeat to Leicester.
And now Anglesea is hoping the likes of Lions tourists Mark Cueto, Charlie Hodgson, Andrew Sheridan and Dwayne Peel will take on important leadership roles as the Sharks look to climb from their lowly 10th position in the Aviva Premiership.
“The leadership skills of Mark Cueto will be vital to us and we’re fortunate enough to have Charlie Hodgson back soon who will be another big influence on how we play,” Anglesea told the Manchester Evening News.
“Mark will be captain for the foreseeable future. He has a massive influence in rugby, he’s well respected throughout the sport and certainly with the players.
“We’ll probably have someone in place to take over while the Six Nations are on but we are looking to Mark to lead the club forward with heart and passion.”
Sale have won just three Premiership games this year, picking up just 14 points in the process.
It’s a far cry from the Championship-winning season of 2005/06 when Anglesea tasted glory with a comfortable victory over perenial winners Leicester at Twickenham.
Following the dramatic sacking of Brewer, Anglesea made a point of immediately speaking to his senior players but he insists Sale are not a club in crisis despite seven league losses already this term.
“The first thing I did after taking charge was to get the senior players on my side because I played with most of them. I thought it was important to get them on board,” added Anglesea.
“It wasn’t a case of having to go to them. We spoke within an hour of me taking over the role and they were 100 per cent behind me, probably more as a friend than anything. We want to play rugby and we want to enjoy ourselves.
“I’m not picking up a club in pieces – I’m picking up a club that is in a transition period where a new regime is involved.
“We have got British & Irish Lions, we have got internationals and enough quality to turn it around.”
