Springbok's red card helps Exeter claim comeback win at Sale
Exeter Chiefs secured their first Premiership victory of the season as they came from behind to overcome Sale Sharks 25-15 at the AJ Bell Stadium.
The Sharks began well and opened up a 10-point buffer through Ross Harrison’s try and Rob Du Preez’s penalty, but Exeter hit back to level the scores at the break as Henry Slade touched down and also added a three-pointer.
Slade then kicked the Chiefs into the lead before the key moment as Rohan Janse Van Rensburg was sent off. With the man advantage, the Devonians crossed the whitewash twice in quick succession via their England centre and second-row Will Witty.
They could not force the bonus point, however, with Sale having the final word through Ewan Ashman’s late score.
Last season’s beaten finalists had endured a poor start to the campaign, going down to defeats to Midlands duo Northampton Saints and Leicester Tigers, but they were much better here, even accounting for the red card and slow start.
The Chiefs are without a number of players through injury and Lions-enforced rest, but were able to call upon Stuart Hogg for this encounter.
Hogg struggled to make an impact in the early stages, though, as Sale, who themselves are shorn of several key individuals due to the Springboks’ Rugby Championship campaign, controlled the opening 15 minutes.
They earned an early penalty from a scrum and, after going to the line out, eventually touched down through Harrison – just his second try for the club in over 250 appearances.
The Sharks then added a three-pointer via Du Preez before the Chiefs finally earned some possession and field position inside the opposition half. Rob Baxter’s charges were awarded a succession of penalties which eventually saw Slade reduce the arrears from the tee.
Sale continued to create the better openings, however, and should have had another try when Jono Ross broke through the middle, but his pass was just too far in front for Tom Roebuck to collect.
That profligacy was to prove costly as Exeter hit back just before the interval. Hogg, who had gradually grown into the game, played a key role after Tom O’Flaherty had set up the opportunity with a searing break. Once the wing had been halted, play shifted left and the Scot was there to brilliantly set up Slade to finish.
The centre added the conversion to level matters and then took the Devonians into the lead in the second period via a second penalty, but they were almost caught cold a minute later.
Luke James took play into the Exeter 22 and Cameron Neild thought he had scored by going through the middle of the ruck, but the flanker was correctly deemed to have been offside.
Not much was going right for Sale in the second half but they only had themselves to blame at times, particularly when Janse Van Rensburg was red-carded for connecting with the head of Harvey Skinner.
With the hosts down to 14 men, the Chiefs took advantage when Slade went over, before lock Witty showed incredible footwork to touch down and effectively put the game beyond doubt.
The Sharks did respond late on via Ashman but it proved to be mere consolation as Exeter deservedly got off the mark in the Premiership.
Comments on RugbyPass
Dagg is still trying to get enough headlines to make himself relevant enough to get a job. The Crusaders went back to square one at all levels. Shelve this season and nail the next one.
4 Go to commentsHe was in such great form. Sad for him but only a short term injury and it will be great to see him back for the finals.
1 Go to commentsAfter their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
3 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
36 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to comments