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Six Nations 2026 Awards - and our Team of the Tournament
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The George Ford comments that brought Alex Sanderson 'back down' after win
By PA
Alex Sanderson was delighted after Sale bounced back from last week’s defeat at Bath to claim a thumping 57-5 home win over Newcastle and condemn their northern rivals to a third straight loss.
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Sanderson’s Sharks scored five first-half tries to establish firm control against a Red Bulls side who have won just two league matches in the past two seasons.
Newcastle hit back with their first try of the second half, but Sale underlined their superiority with four more tries to claim their second successive bonus-point home win.
Director of rugby Sanderson, whose side scored tries from Rob du Preez, Tom Roebuck and Luke Cowan-Dickie inside the opening quarter, could not fault the overall performance.
He said: “It was a really good start – high tempo – and I was really happy with our attacking intent.
“Having got stuck in the mire of last week, we wanted the ball in our hands and we wanted to attack.
“For 50 minutes, I thought we were good for it in that respect.
“But then you speak to Fordy (fly-half George Ford) after the game and he was like ‘that was frustrating at times’ and it brings you back down.
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“And rightly so because there were still inaccuracies in the game which frustrated us in the 20 minutes after half-time.”
Captain Ernst van Rhyn and winger Arron Reed also scored before half-time to make it 31-0 at the break.
Newcastle replied early in the second half through Elliott Obatoyinbo’s well-taken score, but Sale gradually reasserted their superiority.
Roebuck scored twice more to complete his hat-trick, Reed claimed his second and replacement hooker Nathan Jibulu touched down for the third successive Gallagher Prem Rugby game.
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Sanderson said of England wing Roebuck: “Tom has been training with a sprint coach down at Loughborough and that’s not just him – a few of the squad go down.
“It looked like it showed with how he stepped in off the right foot coming infield.
“I don’t think he’d hit his straps so far this season so there were conversations with him this week about him actually stepping up.
“He trained really well and goes and performs like that.”
It was a hugely disappointing night for Newcastle as they slumped to another heavy defeat.
Red Bulls head coach Alan Dickens cut a frustrated figure as he reflected: “We spoke at half-time in the changing room about how we gave Sale a lot of opportunities.
“We had talked about it in the week and that was disappointing.
“We said at half-time that we needed to stick together and for a long period in the second half I thought we did – probably until about the 72nd minute.
“Then they scored three quick tries and absolutely ran away with it.
“But I would never question the desire of the players. Every time they step on the field they put their bodies on the line.”
