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The Prem

Sale (31) 57

Tries: R du Preez, Roebuck 3, Cowan-Dickie, van Rhyn, Reed 2, Jibulu Cons: Ford 6

Sin-bin: Cowan-Dickie (35 mins)

Newcastle (0) 5

Try: Obatoyinbo

Tom Roebuck scored a hat-trick as nine-try Sale Sharks piled on the agony for the Prem’s bottom club Newcastle Red Bulls with a crushing 57-5 victory at the CorpAcq Stadium.

The England man’s opposite wing Arron Reed added two tries of his own and British and Irish Lions hero Luke Cowan-Dickie also grabbed a try on his return to action for his club.

With Rob du Preez and Ernst van Rhyn also scoring, the Sharks racked up the bonus-point in the first half as they raced to a 31-0 lead at the break.

Newcastle, who have now heavily lost their first two league games since the takeover by Red Bull in the summer, showed signs of a revival as the home side got sloppy and Elliott Obatoyinbo muscled his way over.

Newcastle head coach Alan Dickens told BBC Radio Newcastle:

“We gave Sale a lot of opportunities. It wasn’t the start we had talked about in the week and that was disappointing.

“What we talked about at half-time was the need to stick together and, for a long period of time in that second half, I thought we did, probably up to 72 minutes and then Sale scored three quick tries and ran away with it.

“We gave them too much time on the ball and when you do that with such a quality player [George Ford] he’s going to pull the strings and put people in holes.

Newcastle fans had hoped that the addition of their club to the Red Bull sporting stable might bring an upturn in their fortunes, with new players and a new head coach heading to Kingston Park.

That has made little difference so far as the Geordies shipped 77 points in defeats by Saracens and Exeter Chiefs, and have now lost the Northern “derby” by a record scoreline.

For Sale, the big win was a perfect pick-me-up after last week’s defeat by champions Bath as they continue to ensure their home on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal remains a fortress.

Alex Sanderson’s side were quick out of the blocks with du Preez, who this week announced he will leave the club at the end of the season, following Gus Warr down the blindside for an easy opening try and Roebuck carving through a sluggish defence for another.

Max Clark was yellow-carded for repeat infringements as Sale hammered away at the Newcastle line and Cowan-Dickie took advantage by forcing his way over.

Skipper Van Rhyn marked his 50th Sale appearance with the bonus-point try and even the sin-binning of Cowan-Dickie could not stop Sale as Reed dribbled du Preez’s lovely kick over the line for a great finish.

Obatobinyo’s first try since March 2023 gave Newcastle a glimmer of hope, as did the debut of exciting Argentina scrum-half Simon Benitez Cruz from the bench but it was all short-lived.

South African centre Marius Louw sent Roebuck through for his second, and hooker Nathan Jibulu made up for his malfunctioning lineout work by making it a try in each of his first three Prem games for the club.

Sale: Carpenter; Roebuck, R. du Preez, Louw, Reed; Ford, Warr; Rodd, Cowan-Dickie, Opoku-Fordjour, Bamber, Andrews, van Rhyn, Woodman, Dugdale.

Replacements: Jibulu, McIntyre, Harper, Burrow, Caine, Quirke, O’Flaherty, Bedlow.

Newcastle: Grayson; Obatoyinbo, Doherty, Clark, Hearle; Chamberlain, Elliott; Brocklebank, McGuigan, Palframan, Hodgson, Clarke, Lee-Warner, Gordon, Mafi.

Replacements: Fletcher, Rewcastle, McCallum, Usher, Neild, Cruz, Connon, Spencer.

The Prem

Sale (31) 57

Tries: R du Preez, Roebuck 3, Cowan-Dickie, van Rhyn, Reed 2, Jibulu Cons: Ford 6

Sin-bin: Cowan-Dickie (35 mins)

Newcastle (0) 5

Try: Obatoyinbo

Tom Roebuck scored a hat-trick as nine-try Sale Sharks piled on the agony for the Prem’s bottom club Newcastle Red Bulls with a crushing 57-5 victory at the CorpAcq Stadium.

The England man’s opposite wing Arron Reed added two tries of his own and British and Irish Lions hero Luke Cowan-Dickie also grabbed a try on his return to action for his club.

With Rob du Preez and Ernst van Rhyn also scoring, the Sharks racked up the bonus-point in the first half as they raced to a 31-0 lead at the break.

Newcastle, who have now heavily lost their first two league games since the takeover by Red Bull in the summer, showed signs of a revival as the home side got sloppy and Elliott Obatoyinbo muscled his way over.

Newcastle head coach Alan Dickens told BBC Radio Newcastle:

“We gave Sale a lot of opportunities. It wasn’t the start we had talked about in the week and that was disappointing.

“What we talked about at half-time was the need to stick together and, for a long period of time in that second half, I thought we did, probably up to 72 minutes and then Sale scored three quick tries and ran away with it.

“We gave them too much time on the ball and when you do that with such a quality player [George Ford] he’s going to pull the strings and put people in holes.

Newcastle fans had hoped that the addition of their club to the Red Bull sporting stable might bring an upturn in their fortunes, with new players and a new head coach heading to Kingston Park.

That has made little difference so far as the Geordies shipped 77 points in defeats by Saracens and Exeter Chiefs, and have now lost the Northern “derby” by a record scoreline.

For Sale, the big win was a perfect pick-me-up after last week’s defeat by champions Bath as they continue to ensure their home on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal remains a fortress.

Alex Sanderson’s side were quick out of the blocks with du Preez, who this week announced he will leave the club at the end of the season, following Gus Warr down the blindside for an easy opening try and Roebuck carving through a sluggish defence for another.

Max Clark was yellow-carded for repeat infringements as Sale hammered away at the Newcastle line and Cowan-Dickie took advantage by forcing his way over.

Skipper Van Rhyn marked his 50th Sale appearance with the bonus-point try and even the sin-binning of Cowan-Dickie could not stop Sale as Reed dribbled du Preez’s lovely kick over the line for a great finish.

Obatobinyo’s first try since March 2023 gave Newcastle a glimmer of hope, as did the debut of exciting Argentina scrum-half Simon Benitez Cruz from the bench but it was all short-lived.

South African centre Marius Louw sent Roebuck through for his second, and hooker Nathan Jibulu made up for his malfunctioning lineout work by making it a try in each of his first three Prem games for the club.

Sale: Carpenter; Roebuck, R. du Preez, Louw, Reed; Ford, Warr; Rodd, Cowan-Dickie, Opoku-Fordjour, Bamber, Andrews, van Rhyn, Woodman, Dugdale.

Replacements: Jibulu, McIntyre, Harper, Burrow, Caine, Quirke, O’Flaherty, Bedlow.

Newcastle: Grayson; Obatoyinbo, Doherty, Clark, Hearle; Chamberlain, Elliott; Brocklebank, McGuigan, Palframan, Hodgson, Clarke, Lee-Warner, Gordon, Mafi.

Replacements: Fletcher, Rewcastle, McCallum, Usher, Neild, Cruz, Connon, Spencer.

Brentford forward Kevin Schade is a target for Tottenham, Real Madrid prefer Crystal Palace centre-back Marc Guehi to Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate, while the Reds want Bayern Munich defender Dayot Upamecano.

Tottenham are among the teams closely monitoring Brentford’s 23-year-old German forward Kevin Schade. (Sky Germany via Sky Sports)

Crystal Palace and England defender Marc Guehi, 25, has overtaken Liverpool and France centre-back Ibrahima Konate, 26, as Real Madrid’s first-choice free-transfer signing next summer. (Fichajes – in Spanish)

Liverpool are interested in Bayern Munich and France centre-back Dayot Upamecano, 26, in addition to Crystal Palace’s Guehi. (Florian Plettenberg)

Juventus will make a move for AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan, 30, with the France international out of contract next summer and also of interest to Chelsea and Bayern Munich. (Gazzetta dello Sport – in Italian)

Bayern Munich are interested in Nottingham Forest’s Murillo, 23, but would need to sell players first to finance any potential transfer for the Brazil centre-back. (Bild – in German)

Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United are among the clubs interested in a potential 60m euros (£52.2m) move for RB Leipzig’s French defender Castello Lukeba, 22. (Caught Offside)

Crystal Palace midfielder Adam Wharton, 21, is happy at Selhurst Park and the England international does not plan to leave the club in January amid interest from Liverpool, Manchester City and Real Madrid. (Football Insider)

The agent of Lyon and Belgium winger Malick Fofana says the 20-year-old belongs at a club like Liverpool, Bayern Munich or Manchester City. (HLN Nieuws – in Dutch).

Everton do not view Manchester City’s English midfielder Kalvin Phillips, 29, as a target, despite David Moyes signing him on loan when he was in charge of former club West Ham. (Teamtalk)

Newcastle are close to appointing Nottingham Forest chief football officer Ross Wilson as their new sporting director. (Telegraph – subscription required)

Boss Eddie Howe will still have the final say over transfer incomings and outgoings at Newcastle despite Wilson’s arrival. (Guardian)

Brentford forward Kevin Schade is a target for Tottenham, Real Madrid prefer Crystal Palace centre-back Marc Guehi to Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate, while the Reds want Bayern Munich defender Dayot Upamecano.

Tottenham are among the teams closely monitoring Brentford’s 23-year-old German forward Kevin Schade. (Sky Germany via Sky Sports)

Crystal Palace and England defender Marc Guehi, 25, has overtaken Liverpool and France centre-back Ibrahima Konate, 26, as Real Madrid’s first-choice free-transfer signing next summer. (Fichajes – in Spanish)

Liverpool are interested in Bayern Munich and France centre-back Dayot Upamecano, 26, in addition to Crystal Palace’s Guehi. (Florian Plettenberg)

Juventus will make a move for AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan, 30, with the France international out of contract next summer and also of interest to Chelsea and Bayern Munich. (Gazzetta dello Sport – in Italian)

Bayern Munich are interested in Nottingham Forest’s Murillo, 23, but would need to sell players first to finance any potential transfer for the Brazil centre-back. (Bild – in German)

Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United are among the clubs interested in a potential 60m euros (£52.2m) move for RB Leipzig’s French defender Castello Lukeba, 22. (Caught Offside)

Crystal Palace midfielder Adam Wharton, 21, is happy at Selhurst Park and the England international does not plan to leave the club in January amid interest from Liverpool, Manchester City and Real Madrid. (Football Insider)

The agent of Lyon and Belgium winger Malick Fofana says the 20-year-old belongs at a club like Liverpool, Bayern Munich or Manchester City. (HLN Nieuws – in Dutch).

Everton do not view Manchester City’s English midfielder Kalvin Phillips, 29, as a target, despite David Moyes signing him on loan when he was in charge of former club West Ham. (Teamtalk)

Newcastle are close to appointing Nottingham Forest chief football officer Ross Wilson as their new sporting director. (Telegraph – subscription required)

Boss Eddie Howe will still have the final say over transfer incomings and outgoings at Newcastle despite Wilson’s arrival. (Guardian)

Gregor Townsend says that Scotland are in “the best position we’ve been in” since he took over as head coach in 2017.

In a wide-ranging interview, focusing mostly on his controversial new consultancy gig with Red Bull and their rugby team Newcastle, Townsend says he is “all-in” with the national team and will pull back on his 30-day commitment to Red Bull if he feels he needs to.

He defended the link, though, and argued that it would make him a better coach for Scotland. The association with Red Bull and his connection with their English Prem team has been the source of much criticism since it was announced last week.

About a month before Scotland went on their summer tour, Townsend got a phone call from what he calls “a respected person in sport”, suggesting a Zoom call with an unidentified party.

“He said ‘I can’t tell you who it’s with. There’ll be an NDA [non-disclosure agreement] that you have to sign’,” Townsend recounts. “That turned out to be my first connection with Red Bull. And these were people high up at Red Bull.”

Red Bull were buying Newcastle and they wanted an adviser in their newly formed rugby department.

“I had another conversation with their global CEO on our summer tour and then after the tour they came up and met me,” Townsend explains. “At the same time, Scottish Rugby offered me an extension on my contract.”

Townsend is now contracted for an extra year, up to and including the World Cup in Australia in 2027. He told his bosses at Scottish Rugby that having access to one of the biggest sporting brands in the world was only beneficial to his development as a coach and, by extension, his coaching of the national team. The SRU agreed and a deal was done, presuming there was no conflict of interest.

The PR around the story from the SRU was a total mess, but Townsend is adamant that there is only upside for Scottish Rugby in all of this. His critics might beg to differ.

“My official start date was 1 October,” he says. “I’m going out to Austria on Sunday to see what they’ve got in their training facilities. “They run ice hockey and football out of Salzburg as well. And that’s great learning for me.”

When the news of Townsend’s consultancy first broke, the SRU’s official line was that it had little to do with Newcastle Red Bulls, and was everything to do with Red Bull. That wasn’t accurate.

Townsend visited the rugby club this week. He will be advising them on certain things – culture, training facilities, high-performance environments, broad brush stroke stuff. Their head coach, Alan Dickens, has said that he wants to tap into Townsend’s knowledge in all sorts of areas.

The optics aren’t great. Eddie Jones, when England coach, had a consultancy with Suntory Sungoliath in Japan, which went under the radar while England were winning but then became an issue when they started to fail.

“I have to be aware of any conflict of interest,” says Townsend. Conflict of interest and distraction were things thrown at Jones and they’ll be thrown at Townsend, too, if things don’t run smoothly for Scotland in the coming months.

The reality of this is that if they turn over the All Blacks in November for the first time ever and then have a rampaging Six Nations then Townsend can turn up for a Scotland news conference in full Max Verstappen kit and nobody would care.

“It was very important for Scottish Rugby to make sure that there is no conflict, I’m aware of this and I have to flag up any potential conflict straight away,” he adds.

A story emerged during the week that Townsend was helping Newcastle Red Bulls with player recruitment – with one of the players he was supposedly recommending being Toulon’s and Scotland’s Ben White.

“Let’s address the player recruitment one,” Townsend says. “I saw that article and I said to the journalist that it’s not true. Newcastle Red Bulls have their own recruitment company.”

It’s a fire he had to put out. It won’t be the last, you suspect. Townsend said that Scotland remains “the big driver of my life”. If his bosses had said no to this consultancy, what would have happened?

“I would hope I would have still continued with Scotland,” he says.

Hope?

Townsend is well-known for his voracious reading and his regular fact-finding exercises in different sports. He is a sponge for information and he argues this association with Red Bull is a continuation of that.

“I had a week with Collingwood [the Melbourne Aussie Rules giants] after the summer tour which was one of the best learning weeks I’ve had with an AFL team,” he says. “It made me a better coach being in that environment.”

He has done these missions in different sports for all of his coaching life.

“You don’t see me doing media (appearances), you don’t see me doing any commercial things,” he explains. “It’s not something I look to fill up my time with. What I do is try and learn from other organisations.

“These are the things that really stimulate me and I feel improve me, but also improve those around me. And that’s part of my own time. The way an international coach’s life works, there’s time where you can do other things.”

The optics, though. The allegations of wanting it all ways, the big job with Scotland and the side hustle with Red Bull?

“I’d say that would be from certain journalists who might not have been happy that [my contract] was extended in the first place,” Townsend suggests.

“I know I’ve been in this role a long time and some people will think it’s a good thing and others will think it’s a bad thing. I have no control on that and people are entitled to their opinion.

“And whether that exists in an echo chamber or whether that is actually the view, I know that this [consultancy] can help me as a coach and it can help the team. It’s a maximum of 30 days and that’s outside of [Scotland] camps.

“I feel it gives me access to organisations that are world leading in sport, from football to Formula One to cycling, that I would never have had before.

“I’m giving something to Red Bull, which is my knowledge, and I feel flattered that they think I can help them. It gives me a real drive and buzz in those quieter times when we’re not doing our jobs.

There’s no doubt that if Scotland have a poor autumn series, a disappointing Six Nations and a bad summer then Townsend will be in trouble. The new gig will be used as a stick to beat him with. It could get deeply uncomfortable.

“If we have a poor autumn, poor Six Nations, poor summer tour, then they’re going to criticise me as a head coach anyway and I don’t think they need to say it’s anything to do with Red Bull,” he says.

“My time, my focus, my connection with the players will be the same as it was before. The intention is to have as good an autumn as possible.

“Me being with Red Bull in the next couple of weeks and going to Austria to look at how they set up their facilities and academies isn’t going to get us over the line against the All Blacks – but it can add an extra layer to our experiences as a coaching group just like learning from the players that went to the [British & Irish] Lions.

“It’s not going to get us over the line and it’s not going to stop us winning those games and the criticism will come either way.”

Scotland’s autumn squad will be named on 21 October and, with the exception of Huw Jones, it looks like a fairly clean bill of health. That’s what everyone thought when the Six Nations was approaching, of course. Before too long, players started dropping like flies.

There will be a new defence coach in Lee Radford who replaces Steve Tandy, now the Wales coach.

Townsend is bullish on Scotland’s prospects for the coming season.

“The level of collective experience, individual experience, ability, depth, what we’ve gone through, good and bad – we’re in the best position that we’ve been in, in the time that I’ve been here,” he claims.

That’s a big call and, perhaps, it’s Townsend making himself a hostage to fortune.

“When you look at other teams that have had success, there’s a couple of common elements. One is player leadership, and we’ve now got some real leaders in our group. The other one is cap numbers, so now we’re getting into the top four or five in the world for caps in our team.

“We know we’re up against some brilliant teams again, but I feel that this team is in the best place ever, and I’m going to be a part of that for the next two years.”