mens
gallagher-prime minister
Sale Sharks boss Alex Sanderson ready to fight to keep ‘mega athlete’ Wales international Christ Tshiunza to the club next season, amid interest from the Welsh regions, with the move potentially helping to launch his international career.
Tshiunza, 24, who plays lock and openside flank, has joined the Sharks on a one-year deal from Exeter Chiefs this summer but is 10 games short of meeting the controversial 25-game threshold that would have made him eligible for Steve Tandy’s selection.
He is again attracting interest from the Welsh regions and signing for one of them next summer would make him available for Tandy’s 2027 World Cup squad, but Sanderson wants to stay in Salford.
Sanderson says they have already spoken briefly and he expects more serious talks in the near future if interested Welsh regions go ahead with the offer.
“I’ve heard rumors about that, and I understand them. I haven’t spoken to him yet because it’s still early days and right now it’s just rumours. But I don’t want him to leave.”
“We’ve already made overtures about him staying, but he’s signed a one-year deal and there’s no doubt he’d give himself some flexibility. So we’ll work it out, and hopefully he’ll stay.”
“Clearly, if he wants to play for Wales long-term and he doesn’t get the performances, we have to go well beyond what Wales can offer to keep him in the Wales squad.
“All they have to match is what we pay him, but they don’t have a lot of money, so maybe it doesn’t need to be much more. But he’s already shown he’s a brilliant member of the squad, and as I said, he’ll have the chance to start and keep the shirt at some point.”
“We’ve been working on his game because we know from the air that he’s good and he’s a mega athlete, and he showed last season how good he is offensively, but I thought he was strong defensively this weekend as well.
“So he’s going to start one of the games in the next couple of weeks because he deserves it. He’s been on the bench for a couple of weeks and he’s done his part,” Sanderson said.