Season preview: Sale Sharks

Erica Jarrell-Searcy will fly into the new Premiership Women’s Rugby season with the same momentum that carried her over the line at the Stadium of Light to score the USA’s opening try of the World Cup.

The Sale Sharks lock delivered a dazzling solo effort against eventual champions the Red Roses, in an opening clash that set the wheels of a history-making tournament in motion.

Now, Jarrell-Searcy is hoping to take all she has learned from a memorable summer to deliver an ambitious turnaround in Sale’s fortunes in the PWR.

“I learned a lot about how women's performance can be centred,” she explained.

“[The World Cup] was the first time that as a women's player that my performance was centred at a tournament that size.

“The USA did a lot with our staffing and with our infrastructure to really emphasise that, so I'm eager to bring that back into the PWR space.

“Sale are great and supportive and willing to work with us to get a similar output to what an international team would experience, so they're keen to find out the inner workings of that stuff.

“To bring that level forward into the PWR is my next goal.”

𝙒𝙀 𝘼𝙍𝙀 𝘽𝘼𝘾𝙆 🙌

Your Sharks are back in action this weekend kicking off our @thePWR campaign 🦈

Limited tickets are still available for our opener, make sure you secure yours now 👇

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— Sale Sharks Women (@SaleSharksWomen) October 20, 2025

Jarrell-Searcy will be in good company in bringing those experiences back to Salford with some of her USA teammates also in the squad.

Georgie Perris-Redding and Olivia Ortiz will line-up alongside the 26-year-old, having got familiar with navy blue during their World Cup escapades in the summer.

That depth is added to by a further 12 internationals who starred at the World Cup in Sale’s ranks, including three World Cup winners.

Lock Morwenna Talling is joined in the northwest by fellow Red Roses hooker Amy Cokayne and centre Holly Aitchison as Sale look to climb the table.

But while the new recruits would appear to signal a new era of ambition for Jarrell-Searcy’s side, she is keen to not get ahead of herself.

“We should win more games than we lose, that is a fair place to start,” she said of their season’s ambitions.

“I'm tempted to say lofty goals like top four just because we've been having some really, really good training nights, but obviously that's a huge ask from where we finished last season. 

“We haven't even really trained with all of our Roses back yet, but I do think there's potential there.

“Regardless of where we finish in the table, we're going to be scoring tries and we're going to be putting on a pretty exciting show, especially relative to last year.”

The World Cup stars will certainly have a tight turnaround to get back into gear for the PWR.

In many ways, that mental reset could prove challenging to get motivated and switched on once more after the end of a tiring international cycle.

But, having finished bottom of the league on just four points last season, Jarrell-Searcy insists the potential performances on the horizon provide more than enough incentive to get Sale Sharks firing on all cylinders heading into the new season.

“It's funny to close the chapter of the World Cup, which has been this looming thing for pretty much my entire career, and now just restart a season,” she reflected.

“We were back into a two-week preseason block, and so just gearing up again. 

“Charles, our USA strength & conditioning coach, sent us home with strict instructions to do isometrics and do whatever we could to rebuild our tendons before we started just degrading them again every week. I followed those instructions to the tee.

“But the exciting thing is that Sale are coming around for a really bright season.

“It doesn't really feel too samey. It feels like a new chapter, a new bright beginning. So I'm excited to sort of embark on that with the girls.”

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What has changed at Sale Sharks?

Alongside the statement signings of Red Roses Holly Aitchison and Amy Cokayne, Sale Sharks have added substantial quality to their side over the summer.

Four Scotland internationals, who all featured at the World Cup in a side that made it to the quarter-finals, bolster their ranks with impressive depth.

Eva Donaldson, Evie Wills and Leah Bartlett all make the switch from Leicester Tigers, while they also gain the experience of 29-year-old winger Rhona Lloyd from Stade Bordelais.

Sale have triggered something of an exodus from the East Midlands, as Charlotte Fray, Sophie Benevant, Katie Childs and Amy Relf also head cross country from Leicester.

Wales international Courtney Keight accompanies Aitchison on the drive up from Bristol Bears, while Spain’s Carmen Castellucci joins from PWR champions Gloucester Hartpury.

Great Britain 7s player Shona Campbell, who previously represented Scotland at the 2021 World Cup in New Zealand, will bring excitement on the wing while Sharifa Kasolo also adds to their back row strength having joined from Saracens.

And the change does not end in the playing squad as Sale have also undergone a revamp in their coaching department.

Tom Hudson has been appointed head coach, having previously been a senior coach at Leicester Tigers, and will be joined by a compliment of new staff.