Steve Diamond: Sale Sharks boss says good home form key to top-four finish
- Published
Good home form is more important than winning away when aiming for a top-four place in the Premiership, according to Sale director of rugby Steve Diamond.
Sale won seven league games, including six at home, on the way to finishing 10th in the Premiership last season.
Diamond's side suffered a 50-35 defeat away at Wasps on the opening day of the season but picked up a bonus point.
"Anyone who understands the competition knows you've got to win at home and get bonus points away," Diamond said.
"If you can do that and win 90% of your home games, pull a couple of wins and get bonus points in your losses then you're pushing for the top four."
Last season's Premiership leaders Wasps won 17 regular-season games, including all of their 11 games at their Ricoh Arena home, while eventual winners Exeter Chiefs won 15 games with seven of those coming at home.
"No side ever makes the top four by winning 20 games. It's always around the 15 or 16 mark so there's other ways of building your points up," Diamond continued.
"The way to do that is to win at home and put highly competitive displays in away from home."
- Published2 September 2017