Sale Sharks (H) - Graham McKechnie Interviews

<2>Visit our dedicated page on the BBC website.

<3>London Irish take on Sale Sharks at the Madejski Stadium on Sunday 15 October, and you can hear it live here - kick-off's at 3pm.

Defending champions Sale are on the way to the Madjeski Stadium to face London Irish, and Brian Smith's team know that winning will be a tough task. BBC Radio Berkshire reporter Graham McKechnie spoke to the players and director of rugby Brian Smith ahead of the game:

You can hear the match live here, with Graham McKechnie. Listen to the live commentary by clicking on the link below. Please note that the link only becomes active an hour before kick-off.

<1>LISTEN LIVE >

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See below for excerpts from each interview.

BRIAN SMITH

"We've taken some lessons out of last weekend - we didn't really compete at the breakdown, it's something we're going to address."

Brian Smith talking to BBC Radio Berkshire's Graham McKechnie:

<1>LISTEN : Brian Smith >

"But I wouldn't read too much into the EDF Cup. We'll be going back to more tried and tested combinations this weekend and Sale will do the same."

"Sale probably lost a bit of momentum in the EDF Cup, the same as a lot of other teams."

"They might be a little bit rusty and we're banking on that, because we've got a few more injuries than them. We'll need to play to our potential in order to beat them."

"It's quite a simple game they play, there's no surprises as to what's coming at you, you've just got to be good enough to stop it."

"It's the same game Bath played a couple of years ago when they were top of the league, it's a tried and tested English formula."

MIKE HORAK

"It's good to be back and good to be playing half-decent stuff at the moment. You take the rough with the smooth and I'm really enjoying it."

Mike Horak talking to BBC Radio Berkshire's Graham McKechnie:

<1>LISTEN : Mike Horak >

"Sale are a fantastic team, they've got game-breakers all over the park. But we've got to have confidence in our own abilities and we're relishing the challenge."

"Any player like Jason Robinson, if you give him space he's going to hurt you, so we've just got to close him down."

"But we can't give him too much attention because they've got other players around him. Ultimately if they haven't got the ball, they can't do anything against us."

NICK KENNEDY

"[The EDF Cup against Wasps] was a poor performance and we've worked this week trying to things right - now the focus is on Sale."

Nick Kennedy talking to BBC Radio Berkshire's Graham McKechnie:

<1>LISTEN : Nick Kennedy >

"Sale used not to have the best line-out around and that was one thing you could look to target, but now they've sorted it out and that's looking really good too."

"It's very difficult to find a weakness, we'll just have to play out of our skins."

BARRY EVERITT

"We had a lot of new faces out at the weekend, but it's important to have a big squad and to give everybody a bit of game time."

Barry Everitt talking to BBC Radio Berkshire's Graham McKechnie:

<1>LISTEN : Barry Everitt >

"It was a blip, I don't think it will be damaging in any way. We know that the Sale game and the next two European games are really what we're focused in on, and we've been gathering momentum over the last few weeks."

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