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Sale Sharks scrum half Mike Phillips previews the weekend’s match against Exeter Chiefs.

By Rachel Foy on 21st March 2017 in Sport

SALE SHARKS have had a tough season so far, but with only five games left, scrum half Mike Phillips spoke to our reporter, Rachel Foy:

Sale Sharks have had a tough season so far in the Aviva Premiership. However, the team has had a well-deserved break and are now back in training and ready to face Exeter Chiefs on Saturday.

Scrum half Mike Phillips spoke to our sport reporter to give his thoughts on what the team has improved on during their two week break.

Mike said: “There’s been a lot of rugby played this season and it was quite draining, so it was nice to get away and switch off. The boys are all refreshed up, we’ve had a good training week last week and we’re back and ready for the game this weekend.”

What improvements have been made within the team?

“I think we’ve worked a lot on our kicking game, it was poor last time when we played at home. We’ve really emphasised on that aspect of our game and made sure we have structure to our kicking game. We’ve also topped up on our defensive issues and looking at Exeter, they’ve got a big front line defence and how we can combat that. I think we’ve all been pretty focused this week and last, so I think we’re pretty confident for this weekend.”

After the last couple of losses, what can you do as a team to get a better result?

“I think we just really need to nail our skills, we’ve worked hard on our basic skills and just up them really. Playing against a team like Exeter away, they’re like one of the top teams in the premiership, so we’ve really got to be on the money if we want to go and get the win.”

What is the team hoping to achieve in the rest of the season?

“I think just get the most out of every game that we possibly can and take every game as it comes, no cliché intended. We’d like to finish as high up the league as we can and work as hard as we can in training each day up towards the end of the season.”

Sale Sharks are playing Exeter Chiefs on 25th March, keep an eye on their twitter for match updates here.