Rugby union: Sale, the rugby club with attitude

David Llewellyn says the whole game can learn from the methods of Mitchell

The future of English rugby is not guaranteed to be golden, but it might just develop an All Black tinge. So says a man who should know: John Mitchell, the New Zealander who has helped make Sale the success story of the domestic season by reaching the semi-finals of the Pilkington Cup and fifth place in the Courage League First Division.

"I think professionalism has changed players' attitudes in this country," the 32-year-old flanker said. "It has made them more disciplined, more committed to the game now that it is a job, and I think that will give them a New Zealand approach to the game, where rugby is a way of life."

Mitchell is eight months into his three-year contract with Sale - although as a man who views his job as a vocation rather than a profession he refers to it as a three-year project - and also had a spell helping out the Ireland squad before moving to Sale, so he has had a good opportunity to study the Northern Hemisphere in general and the English game in particular.

Far from decrying it, Mitchell is becoming impressed: "I think English club rugby is of a very good standard. It has certainly improved dramatically since last year and I think it can improve even more; chiefly because the players will become better athletes, but also because coaches are setting higher standards. I think also the new laws are helping."

If Mitchell's praise seems unstinting, he extends it in a surprising direction. "I think referees are starting to improve and if we can get better communication between players and the referee, then I think the game in the Northern Hemisphere will improve even more."

This is something that the New Zealander is happy to play a part in. "If I can help the English game in the short term - and maybe even the long term if it works out that way - then that will be great," he said. "I will always be a New Zealander, but I like a challenge and when I accept one I put my utmost into it."

His utmost is certainly going into Sale. But he is not getting carried away by the present state of affairs as exemplified by last week's emphatic cup quarter-final win at Northampton. "Right now we are having a bit of a purple patch, but we still have a long way to go. Really our objective - like a lot of other clubs - is to make the top four."

To do that, which will bring a place in the European Cup, Mitchell intends drawing on his 10 years with Waikato - the unfashionable province who handed the 1993 Lions a record 38-10 defeat - and numerous training sessions with the All Blacks for whom he played six times on tour, though not in a Test match.

"I want to bring in different training methods, and some equipment that will help us. I don't want to disclose precisely what that equipment is at the moment. I want to keep it up my sleeve, because I am sure it will give us a bit of an edge later on. It is used in New Zealand all the time. It improves rucking play, helping to deliver quicker ball."

He has a work ethic and the players feel the sharp edge of it in training. "Players have to be prepared to come and train as if they were playing. They have to learn to train under pressure. Training should never be an opportunity to take things easy between games. I've been pushing the guys through some barriers they have never been through. Sometimes I may push them collectively through something physically demanding, which may require more than stamina. They are forced to use their mind because it hurts quite a lot."

It may sound horrific but Mitchell adds: "No training session would ever last more than 90 minutes and some only go on for 15 to 20 minutes. The emphasis is on quality not quantity. I want my players to develop as people as well as players."

Not for Mitchell the chequebook solution either. "We have to make sure we don't rush into things. A part of the policy at the club, and it is a very important part, lies with getting the very best of the young players in the north of England to come through with us." The way things are looking, any smart youth player who does opt for Sale could well go through to the top. That is where Mitchell is aiming.