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Sale battle past Gloucester to secure home tie in play-offs
Sale Sharks booked a home tie in the Gallagher Premiership play-offs after digging deep to defeat Gloucester 25-22 at Kingsholm.
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Sale are likely to host Leicester on May 13, with Alex Sanderson’s team chasing a second Premiership title 17 years after they were crowned English champions.
Gloucester made them fight every inch of the way, but Sale even overcame yellow cards for England internationals Tom Curry and Manu Tuilagi as they displayed admirable resilience.
George Ford’s 64th-minute penalty repelled Gloucester’s resistance before Sam James’ breakaway effort during the closing stages saw victory confirmed.
Lock Jean-Luc du Preez, number eight Jono Ross and substitute James scored tries for Sale, with Ford adding two penalties and two conversions, while Gloucester delivered touchdowns from captain Lewis Ludlow, plus wings Louis Rees-Zammit and Jonny May.
Adam Hastings, in his first match since suffering a shoulder injury on Christmas Eve, booted two conversions and a penalty but Gloucester were left with a losing bonus-point as scant consolation.
Hastings and hooker George McGuigan returned for Gloucester, while there were Kingsholm farewells for former England internationals Billy Twelvetrees, who is leaving the club at the end of this season, and retiring number eight Ben Morgan.
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Sale showed one change from the team that swept aside Bristol at Ashton Gate last time out, with wing Arron Reed replacing Tom O’Flaherty as Sharks looked to build on their first Premiership away victory since early January.
England head coach Steve Borthwick looked on as Sale established an immediate attacking platform, but Sharks also suffered an early injury blow when prop Nick Schonert limped off and was replaced by Coenie Oosthuizen.
But Gloucester went close to opening the scoring after possession was quickly moved wide to Rees-Zammit, yet Reed’s last-ditch tackle denied his opposite number.
Rees-Zammit was left limping heavily after his near-miss, but he was able to run off any issue as Ford kicked Sale ahead through a 40-metre penalty.
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Sale were then forced into a defensive rear-guard as Gloucester looked to capitalise on extensive pressure, yet their only reward was an equalising Hastings penalty nine minutes before half-time.
The Sharks forwards responded through some approach play and Du Preez crashed over for his second try in successive Premiership games, with Ford’s conversion making it 10-3.
Gloucester still had a chance to draw level as the interval approached when Rees-Zammit’s explosive midfield break freed scrum-half Stephen Varney.
Varney was tackled short of the line, but Sale stopped him illegally and referee Tom Foley yellow-carded Sharks’ England flanker Curry.
Sale briefly went down to 13 players shortly after the restart, with Curry’s England team-mate Tuilagi being sin-binned for offside.
And Gloucester made their numerical advantage count as Ludlow surged through an inviting gap to touch down, with Hastings’ conversion levelling the contest.
It got better for Gloucester minutes later as they went ahead for the first time following centre Chris Harris’ incisive midfield break.
Rees-Zammit still had it all to do, but his diving one-handed finish was brilliantly executed before Hastings converted from the touchline and Gloucester led by seven points.
But Sale were only behind for two minutes as they surged back upfield and Ross claimed a well-worked touchdown that saw Ford add the conversion.
And the fly-half’s relentless accuracy – he scored 21 points against Bristol eight days ago – served his team well as a penalty 16 minutes from time edged Sale back in front, and Gloucester could find no way back despite Rees-Zammit’s best efforts and a late May touchdown.
Comments on RugbyPass
It 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.
1 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.)
2 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.
28 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 commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to comments