RUGBY: SHARKS DEFENCE SHOW BITE AS WASPS ARE SWATTED

 

SALE SHARKS   25 - 14 WASPS   

Sale Sharks produced a fantastic defensive display on Sunday afternoon as they defeated the London Wasps 25-14 at the A.J Bell Stadium, to leapfrog their opponents into Eighth position in the AVIVA PREMIERSHIP with a very hard fought victory and one that saw the hosts on the back foot for a majority of the match. 

The Sharks have been unlucky so far this season in their matches, as they ran Bath close at home before just running out of gas against another top side in Gloucester and then saw them pick up their only win this season, with a comfortable win over new boys London Welsh before being taken apart by Saracens last weekend. Sale was hoping to pick up a much needed win over Wasps, as the Sharks have had a great record over their opponents in recent seasons.

Sale pressured the Wasps side early on the game as they caused them a few problems at the start, especially in the scrums after Sharks coach Steve Diamond named a new front row for the Sharks, after last week when they was dismantled by Saracens. That early aggressive pressure put on by the hosts, led to them  scoring the game opening  try as some nice fast hands down the left flank saw Tom Arscott finish nicely in the corner to score his fifth try of the season and see Sale go in front with six minutes on the board.

What seemed to be a recurring theme in the game for Sale, was the kicking of one Danny Cipriani and saw him unable to kick the conversion over and so the hosts lead 5-0.

Wasps then got a foothold into the game and went at the home side, with the defence having to make some important tackles on the likes of Viliami Helu and Ashley Johnson as the two big men for the away side had them gaining important ground for the Wasps but not able to break through.

Christian Wade once or twice managed to get behind the back of the Sale defence, but luckily for Sale he was dealt with Luke McClean who forced him out of play and had the Sharks defence troubled once or twice by his blistering pace.

Danny Ciprani was trying to engineer a way to get the Sharks out of a hole that they had put themselves in and a lovely weighted kick saw the ball roll and bounce out of play deep inside the Wasps 22.

 

Match official Luke Pearce was getting increasing impatient with Sale and their constant re-offending in the game and so had words with Sharks Captain David Seymour over frequency of the penalties.  

Less than minute later it saw the referee reaching the end of his tether and so shown Michael Paterson a yellow card and had Sale down to 14-men for the next ten minutes.

Wasps made the extra man advantage count, when a driving maul by the away side saw Nathan Hughes break away and put the ball down to give the visitors a deserved lead in the 27^th minute with Andy Goode adding the extras for a 7-5 lead.

Sale had the chance to strike right back soon after, when Wasps conceded a penalty from the kick off and had Cipriani the chance to kick the Sharks back in front, sadly for the fly half he pulled his kick wide once again and saw a chance go begging for the home side.

Both sides then found themselves a man lighter soon after, when Helu was sin binned for the away side after he made a tackle on a Sharks player while the kicker was still in the air from kicking down field and so handed the hosts another chance to re-take the lead from the resulting penalty.

Yet again though, Cipriani missed his kick and drew a fair few groans and moans from the Sale faithful as these kicks were points dropped as they were well within his range and could be crucial to the score come the end of the game.

Sale seemed to stir a bit towards the end of the half, and went very close to the try line before Marc Jones was tackled into touch by the Wasps defence and had the Sharks sensing blood in the closing minutes of the half.  Wasps though looked fairly comfortable despite being pinned in their own 22, but after a kick was charge down by the Sharks the loose ball came towards Wade, where it looked like was going to ground the ball, but Chris Cusiter followed up claiming a try.

The match official went to the TMO to clarify the outcome and replays shown that Wade never had control of the ball and that Cusiter did score a try to give the lead back to the hosts. Cipriani with his fourth attempt of the match finally managed to kick over for a conversion and see Sale lead 10-7.

Sale was then awarded a penalty on the stroke of half time as Wasps were penalised at the scrum and had Danny Cipriani having the chance to extend the lead for Sale, but much like was the story of his first half,  he failed with the boot and saw the teams head into the break at 12-7 in favour of the home side.

 

In the Second half the Sharks moved further in front early on, after a drop goal by Cipriani while playing the advantage saw Sale move 15-7 in front.  It seemed like a replay of the first forty minutes  with the Sharks coming out of the traps hard and fast, but then letting their opponents back into the contest and this was very much the same vain in the second half too.

Sale went 18-7 up through a penalty by Cipriani again as it looked like he had put his kicking boots on in the second half of the game with him not looking to miss anything at all. Wasps were the most dominant and attacking side in the game and despite them have the major of the ball in the game, they just weren`t able to transfer it into points.

It did see the Sharks defence holding firm and keeping the Wasps attack at bay as they were really being severely tested by a determined opposition and one that wasn`t going to go away.

With the minutes ticking away and seemingly like the home side defence wasn`t going to be unlocked in the second half, but then Christian Wade managed to wriggle his way somehow through tackles to go under the posts for a try and make it a 6 point game with just over 10 minutes of play remaining in this intriguing game.  

As the game reaching its conclusion and with the game there for the taking with both sides going for it, it saw Sale finally kill of the game with some quick thinking.

Tom Arscott quickly ripped the ball from Helu who had no other choice but to step out of touch and played a quick ball into play and from there saw Sale spread the play out wide, which saw Tom Brady dive over for a try to kill the game off, making sure of victory for the Sharks in another tough game and give them some confidence ahead of their trip to the Champions next week in Northampton.   

SALE v WASPS Match Highlights