Sale SHARKS 32 - 29 WASPS
Sale Sharks opened their LV=Cup campaign with a win in a see-saw game against the Wasps 32-29 at the AJ Bell Stadium on Saturday Afternoon, the match saw the lead change hands no more than seven occasions in the contest and had the visiting side battle back from ten points down in the second half to then draw level before a Nick Macleod penalty gave the Sharks the victory in an entertaining game for the fans, but frustrating for the coaches.
The hosts were hoping that home comforts would help them out after their last few tough weeks for the Eccles based outfit, that has seen the Sharks get beaten heavily in Clermont last weekend in the European Rugby Cup and then suffered heartbreaking defeat against Irish heavyweights Munster, with a last gasp drop goal that denied them a famous win. On the domestic side of things they was humiliated in front of a television audience at champions Northampton and saw their last victory ironically, coming against their visitors in this game nearly a month ago in the Wasps.
Both sides had a different look to each other from the last meeting between the two, as a few players was rested by their respective teams as Sale had Magnus Lund, Tom Arscott and Danny Cipriani being the main trio of players omitted from the home squad and for the away side they had Andy Goode, Christian Wade and Ashley Johnson all missing from the Wasps line up.
It saw a fast opening to the game in which the hosts took an early lead through the boot of Joe Ford after the Sharks driving maul them gain 40 metres up field and forced a penalty by Wasps. Ford kicked over for a 3-0 Sharks lead after only 2 minutes of play and from the resulting kick off it seen Wasps come right back, as Will Rowlands crashed over the try line for the away side with Alex Lozowski adding the conversion for the visitors as they took their turn to go 7-3 up with less than five minutes gone in the game. Sale then responded themselves in the 9th minute of the game, when the home side won their own line-out and with some nice passing deep inside Wasps territory and led to a gap in the defense which Alberto De Marchi ran into space and over for a try to see the Shark bite back with Ford kicking the extras.
An explosive opening ten minutes of play then brought some calm to the contest, with both sides making handling errors as the story of this contest was a attack being the best form of defence and it seemed to ring true with neither side being able to defend well in the opening quarter of the game. It then saw Wasps quickly break through the Sale defences thanks to a break by the visiting Captain Ben Jacobs, as he made a quick dash towards the Sharks line but was brought down well by the last man and saw them quickly use the ball at the breakdown and saw Will Helu going over under the posts to give the visiting side the lead back again at 14-10 with Lozowski converting once again.
The game turned into a ‘anything you can do, i can do better’ type of contest, with Sale breaking away again down the left flank and then had Mark Easter make a brilliant offload to Josh Beaumont (son of Bill Beaumont) and he went over the whitewash for a try to see a one point lead for the hosts with Ford kicking over to make it 17-14. This crazy match turn on it`s head once more, as Wasps attacked once more and got held up on the line by the Sale defence but once again the ball was played to Helu and he ploughed over to claim his 2nd try of the game and had the attack for both teams well on truly on top in the match.
Sale came close on many occasions to retaking the lead but for a number of knock on`s and the ball being passed to people that wasn`t there that helped contribute to the Sharks inability to get a score. With the time running down in the half, Sale tried to find some field position for a drop goal attempt and with three seconds remaining the ball was played back to Ford and the fly half pulled his kick wide as it drifted left of the posts to have the hosts trail by two points into the break.
Second half saw conditions turn a tad wintery with swirly rain and wind about that saw both teams having to deal with the elements and made the kicking game almost impossible to use. Sale drew first blood in the second half thanks to a Viliami Fihaki try as the Wasps back line tried their best to stop the Tongan but his power was too much to handle and saw the Sharks man finding the line to lead 22-19, Ford was unable to convert the kick and so it became a three point game. Both sides had decent amount of possessions but neither could get through the defences to which had finally turned up and made chances of scoring more difficult.
In the 62nd minute of play a break by Sale`s Sam James saw him cut through the visitors defences and with Charlie Ingall in support of James the Sharks man passed it into his direction and Ingall went under the posts for the fourth try to the hosts and made it a 29-19 score with Nick Macleod taking over the kicking duties and duly added the extra points for Sale with just under 20 minutes of play to go. Wasps hit right back once again in the match with Ed Jackson making a going over after a little a sidestep move by Lozowski fooled the Sharks and Jackson was on hand to make to score and get the points.
With 10 minutes to play in this entertaining game, it saw Lozowski kicking over a penalty for the away side and saw the opponents level the game at 29 all. Five minutes later the Sharks were back in front with the Sale forwards once again putting pressure on the Wasps defense and so saw them conceding a penalty, to which Macleod kicked over between the uprights and proved crucial heading towards the end of the game with close to four minutes left to play in the match.
Wasps tried to get the ball from Sale as the hosts played tremendously well in the final few minutes of the contest as they just tried to see out the game with them eating up the clock as much as they much, but saw them gaining yards and keep the ball in their opponents half frustrating the Wasps and managed to force them to give up a penalty with less than thirty second to go in the match and despite Macleod unable to convert, the game was won and the most pleasing factor for Sale boss Steve Diamond must be the way the side bounced back and put on a good performance as well as the players given a run out that will give Diamond food for thought on his selection process.
The hosts looked very attacking in their playing and will hope to build on their win as they look for a second successive win with a trip to Leicester Tigers next weekend in the next LV=CUP game
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