Sale Sharks’ Sam Dugdale feels that the “underdog” tag benefits his team and has helped them seal a place in the Gallagher Premiership Rugby play-offs. Sale won their fifth domestic match in a row at Saracens on Saturday to book their spot in the upcoming semi-finals, despite coming into the match without a win at Sarries for 20 years. “We just said it’s do or die for us now,” Dugdale said.
Sam Dugdale has admitted that it felt like “us against the world” for him and his Sale Sharks team-mates during difficult spells throughout the Gallagher Premiership Rugby season.
The club’s 20-year wait for a victory at Saracens came to an end on Saturday when they beat the London club 20-10 on the final day of the regular season to seal a place in the semi-finals.
A trip away to Bath Rugby awaits them as they bid for a spot in June’s final at Twickenham, while they are also seeking redemption from the final defeat to Saracens last season.
Despite their patchy form over the course of the campaign, Alex Sanderson‘s side reeled off a five-match winning streak to catapult the Salford club into the league’s top four.
“We said this week was going to be like a quarter-final seeing as how tight the league has been,” Dugdale told TNT Sports after the match.
“We just said it’s do or die for us now.
“We won the last four games in a row, including getting here as well, so we knew that not needing to get a bonus point this week was a lot better because I don’t think we’ve won down here for a very long time.”
As good as their recent form has been, Sale lost seven of their previous eight away games heading into Saturday’s match.
Saracens on the other hand were unbeaten on home turf since December and had lost just once at the StoneX Stadium all season.
The odds were stacked against the visitors – not for the first time this season – but Dugdale believes that is when his team thrive.
He said: “We had quite a bad spell over Christmas time where we lost seven games in a row, and that’s when everyone turned their back on us.
“It’s do or die for us, it was us against the world and that’s probably when we are at our best, the underdog mentality.”
Sale Sharks will play Bath on Saturday, June 1 in the Premiership semi-final, while Saracens – who lost their home advantage with defeat – will travel to leaders Northampton Saints.
The winners will contest for the Gallagher Premiership title at Twickenham a week later on Saturday, June 8.
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