Thomond no worry for cool hand Luke

IT’S a tall order, given Munster’s European credentials at Thomond Park, but Sale second-row Luke Abraham is confident the English side can triumph in Limerick tomorrow and go onto secure a spot in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals.

Defeats to Munster at Edgeley Park and away to Montauban have negated the benefits of a stunning first round win away to Clermont-Auvergne and left Philippe Saint-Andre’s side with no room for error in their two remaining outings.

“We’re still very much in contention,” said the 25-year-old. “We still just need to win two more games and then we’ll be in the quarter-finals. It sounds easy when you say it and, of course, no-one is underestimating the size of the task facing us but, if we take the intensity and form we showed in our last away game at Bath into Friday, there’s no reason why we can’t get a result at Munster.”

Abraham was superb in that game at The Rec but the disappointment of a 24-20 defeat was compounded when he was suspended by the club for use of the head and ended up missing the subsequent victory against Wasps.

It is little wonder that he is being tagged as the heir to the soon-to-depart Sebastien Chabal. Aside from their occasional disciplinary problems, both are rampaging forwards with a hirsute appearance that has seen the Frenchman dubbed, among other things, the “Caveman”.

“I’ve had long hair for years and years, long before coming to Sale, so its just one of those things that we look so alike,” Abraham said.

“But it has been great to be able to play alongside and train with someone like ‘Seabass’ who is such a legend.”

Chabal himself describes Abraham as his “little brother” and is a paid-up member of the back row’s fan club.

So too is Saint-Andre who rescued him from the purgatory of the Leicester Tigers bench during the summer.

“Luke is a fantastic player,” said Saint André. “I watched him last season in his first 12 games for Leicester and he was fantastic but after that he was not picked at all. We have worked a lot on his fitness and I think he is a great prospect for England as an openside flanker.”

As far as Abraham himself is concerned, the similarity in looks with Chabal are pure coincidence but there are plenty of comparisons in terms of approach between life at Welford Road and Edgeley Park.

“I live near quite a few of the players and everybody has been really welcoming, which has helped me to settle in. Things have been going well and I’ve enjoyed my first few months at the club and its been great to be able to play more rugby. I’ve spent a lot of time working with our head coach Kingsley (Jones). He’s been really helpful in terms of passing on his advice and experience. I came to Sale from Leicester, where winning is ingrained in the club’s mentality and I wanted to join a club who could win things.

“I’ve found that same ethos is here at the Sharks and any time we suffer a disappointing result it affects the guys badly. Losing is quite a big thing here and it affects the whole squad.”