Red card completes Wasps' night of misery in Manchester
The Du Preez brothers scored 22 of Sale’s points as they secured an important 28-18 Gallagher Premiership win over Wasps.
Despite Rob du Preez giving the Sharks an early 3-0 lead, the visitors controlled the opening quarter as Sione Vailanu’s try and Lima Sopoaga’s accuracy off the tee gave them a 10-3 advantage.
Sale hit back, though, taking a 16-10 lead into the initial stages of the second period through Daniel du Preez’s effort and three penalties from Daniel’s brother Rob.
Zach Kibirige gave Wasps hope by crossing the whitewash, while Billy Searle also added a three-pointer – but two penalties apiece from Rob Du Preez and replacement AJ MacGinty secured the win for the hosts.
Both teams like to be ambitious with the ball in hand but it was an attritional contest at the AJ Bell Stadium as the sides regularly battled for territory.
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They traded kicks early on but it was Embrose Papier’s which proved to be the most effective as he landed it perfectly for Byron McGuigan and Daniel du Preez to counter-ruck. Wasps duly infringed and pivot Rob Du Preez took the hosts in front.
The visitors responded, however, and a brilliant cross-field kick set up an opportunity on the left for Juan de Jongh to collect. The centre then passed the ball back inside but it was deliberately knocked on by Simon Hammersley and the full-back was sin-binned.
With the Sharks down to 14 men, the Coventry outfit capitalised and a brilliant driving maul, which started outside the opposition 22, was finished off by Vailanu.
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Sopoaga converted and then added an excellent long-range penalty as the 2017 Premiership runners-up opened up a deserved seven-point buffer. Dai Young’s men were in control but they proceeded to make a series of errors which allowed Sale to go into the break ahead.
Firstly, Jimmy Gopperth’s poor pass was intercepted by McGuigan and the wing did superbly to fend off several would-be tacklers to off-load for number eight Daniel Du Preez to score before ill-discipline crept in. Under pressure, Wasps conceded several penalties but the hosts’ fly-half could only convert one of them as the Greater Manchester team went into the interval 13-10 ahead.
After a decent end to the first 40 minutes, the Sharks began the second period well and moved further in front via the boot of their pivot. Sale were now on the front foot but it was proving to be a topsy-turvy encounter and the away side manufactured a brilliant effort to get themselves back into the contest.
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Sopoaga started it before De Jongh, Nizaam Carr and Tommy Taylor combined to put Kibirige in space. The wing still had plenty to do but he did superbly to chip over the top and touch down to reduce the arrears to one point. The hosts responded well to that setback, however, and further ill-discipline from the Midlanders allowed Rob Du Preez to increase the Sharks’ buffer once more.
Searle did manage to keep Wasps in the contest but two MacGinty penalties sealed the win for Sale. There was a scrappy and concerning end to the game, though. Visiting wing Paolo Odogwu got a red card for kicking Rohan Janse Van Rensburg when collecting a high ball, while Sale lock Josh Beaumont went off with a serious-looking injury.
– Press Association
WATCH: Former Saracens player Jim Hamilton discusses the salary cap scandal surrounding his former club
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to comments