Steves career - The Sale Years

Plenty have tried, but none have succeeded. They came from far and wide - Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, South Africa…the list goes on and on. World stars of the calibre of Matt Burke, home-grown heroes like Neil Back and Ben Cohen and the new breed in the form of Paul Sackey and Tom Varndell. All have scored plenty of tries in the Premiership down the years, but none have matched the efforts of Steve Hanley in his 10 years in the blue of Sale Sharks. Even prolific team-mate Mark Cueto remains in the shadow of his fellow Cumbrian, though he would no doubt point out he made his league debut some three years later.

Yet Steve's counterpunch can be as quick as the man himself, as his tries have come at a rate of one every 1.8 games, while Mark's have come at ‘only' 1.92. And the simple fact is since his debut for Sale against Cardiff in 1998, there has been no-one in the country to consistently match ‘Stan' for getting over the whitewash. The likes of David Lemi and Tom Voyce have bettered him over a season, but Steve's longevity means he stands alone at the top of the all-time Premiership table.

Not bad for a lad from the small market town of Aspatria in Cumbria. Yet rugby is in his blood - his father Mel played for the family's local club before a knee injury forced him to retire, at which point he became a chauffeur for Hanley jr as he progressed through the junior ranks at Bower Park, And soon a raw 16-year-old Steve Hanley would be thrown into the Aspatria first team, thanks in no small part to his dad's presence on the selection committee. Within three years - in the summer of 1998 to be precise - he was invited for a trial at Sale under the watchful eye of Steve Diamond and impressed enough to be not only given a contract by John Mitchell, but also a first-team debut within months.

Steve recalls the time with a great deal of happiness, and it is no surprise given the following April he was plucked - in the words of the BBC website - “from relative obscurity” to make his debut for England against Wales at Wembley Stadium. Playing alongside another 19-year-old in Jonny Wilkinson, Steve made an impressive start with a 21st-minute try as England looked on course for the Grand Slam.

But the game would ultimately end in disappointment for both debutant and team, with Steve one of five England players Scott Gibbs skipped away from as he danced over for a try that Neil Jenkins converted to give Wales the victory. A broken arm added injury to insult, yet a debut Test try - to add to the plethora he was scoring in the league - was surely enough to merit a second chance.

Yet back on the club scene while Steve relished playing under Mitchell, the man who had given him his break in professional rugby, he does not have such fond memories of Glenn Ross' coaching tenure, claiming: “I didn't have a good time. I had a couple of bad injuries and did not come back strongly.” He omits to mention back-to-back hat-tricks against Harlequins and Waterloo in December 2000, though sadly few can say the witnessed the incredible feat given the two games at Heywood Road attracted a combined crowd of little over 4,000.

It was under the tutelage of Jim Mallinder and Steve Diamond that Steve really flourished, though, the attractive brand of running rugby they favoured playing into the hands of the flying winger who by now was terrorising defences on a weekly basis. Yet even then it was not enough for him to be given another chance by England.

And the man himself was as baffled as the legions of Sale fans who would urge Clive Woodward to recall him on the national coach's regular visits to Heywood Road. Speaking in 2005, Steve said: “I haven't got a clue why I wasn't picked again. I never received an explanation and there was no real input about what was wrong. “There were rumours about defence but I have tidied that part of my game up now.

“They had a settled side under Clive and once you were in, it was hard to get out as the team was winning all the time.” Of course, it his hard to argue with Woodward's methods given he would ultimately lead his country to World Cup glory in 2003. Yet it is fair to say there was more than a little head-scratching in the north west as England squad after England squad was named without the name ‘Hanley' appearing.

From a selfish point of view, some Sale fans were not too disappointed his second chance never came, though, as England's loss was most certainly the club's gain. Top Premiership tryscorer in 2001/02 and the joint-top three seasons later, Steve would continue to deliver try after try after try and played a part as the Sharks won first the European Challenge Cup (2005) and then their first-ever league title (2006).

More recently, cruel luck with injuries - including a double leg fracture - have seen Steve reduced to the role of bit-part player, but it is one he has taken with typically good grace, and he certainly doesn't appear to have lost his innate try-scoring ability. And though he may no longer be regarded as a first-choice in the No 11 shirt, Philippe Saint-Andre was delighted to agree a new three-year deal with Steve in April 2006. The Sale director of rugby described the Cumbrian as “a natural winger with a proven track record”, and from a man who scored 32 tries in 69 appearances on the wing for France during the 1990s, there can be few better references.