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Sale secured their Gallagher Premiership play-off place and kept their hopes of a home semi-final alive after impressively overcoming league leaders Bristol 22-12 at the AJ Bell Stadium.
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In front of Sale’s first home crowd since March 2020, nothing separated the sides in the opening half as the match remained scoreless at the break.
Bristol took the lead though a brilliant 45th-minute try from Ben Earl, but that only served to inspire the hosts.
The Sharks dominated the rest of the match, crossing the whitewash via the Du Preez brothers, Dan and Rob, and hooker Curtis Langdon to secure an excellent win, despite Ioan Lloyd’s late response for Pat Lam’s men.
It was an intense, physical and abrasive contest with Sale doing much of the tackling in the early stages.
They were not helped by their own ill-discipline – a constant issue this season – which allowed the Bears to win successive penalties and put pressure inside the opposition 22.
Excellent work from Andy Uren then sent Nathan Hughes scampering down the left and, although Sale covered well, the hosts were forced to concede a five-metre scrum.
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That led to another infringement by the Sharks, this time in front of the posts, but Bristol, with their play-off place already assured, wanted to lay down a marker.
They went to the corner looking to use their lineout drive – an underrated facet of Bristol’s armoury – but Sale held out once again.
It enabled Alex Sanderson’s men to get back into the contest and into the Bears half, but they found a similarly stubborn rearguard.
The Sharks did create their best chance of the match when Luke James went surging down the right, but the visitors defended well and the first half finished 0-0.
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However, it did not remain that way for long and the deadlock was broken in typically brilliant fashion by the Bears in the second period.
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Max Malins started the move, drawing in the defence and sending Semi Radradra away, who fended off Faf de Klerk’s tackle with ease. After that, it was all about the support and the Fijian had it in the form of Charles Piutau, who took his pass and sent Earl across the whitewash.
The Sharks were struggling to find their rhythm, making a series of errors which allowed Bristol to defend their line relatively comfortably, but Sanderson introduced the replacements and they made a difference.
One of those to come on – lively scrum-half Raffi Quirke – was the spark, scything through the heart of the visiting defence.
Quirke stepped out of a number tackles until he was met by Radradra. However, it was an illegal high shot from the centre and he was duly banished to the sidelines for 10 minutes.
With the Bears down to 14 men, Sale took advantage and immediately levelled matters through Dan du Preez’s close-range surge.
It was to get even better for the hosts as AJ MacGinty’s superb cross-field kick was collected by Byron McGuigan and Rob du Preez was on hand to touch down, despite the final pass from McGuigan looking suspiciously forward.
The Television Match Official gave it the green light, though, and they built on that score to go over for a third time via Langdon.
Lloyd did cross for Bristol, but MacGinty’s late penalty meant that Sale had secured their place in the top four and also completed the double over the league leaders.
Comments on RugbyPass
Lets compare apples with apples. Lyon sent weak team the week before, but nobody raised an eyebrow. Give the South African teams a few years to build their depth, then you will be moaning that the teams are too strong.
41 Go to commentsDid footballs agents also perform the scout role at some time? I’m surprised more high profile players haven’t taken up the occupation, great way to remain in the game and use all that experience without really requiring a lot of specific expertise?
1 Go to commentsSuper rugby is struggling but that has little to do with sabbaticals. 1. Too many teams from Aust and NZ - should be 3 and 4 respectively, add in 2 from Japan, 1 possibly 2 from Argentina. 2. Inconsistent and poor refereeing, admittedly not restricted to Super rugby. Only one team was reffed at the breakdown in Reds v H’Landers match. Scrum penalty awarded in Canes v Drua when No 8 had the ball in the open with little defence nearby - ideal opportunity to play advantage. Coming back to Reds match - same scrum situation but ref played advantage - Landers made 10 yards and were penalised at the breakdown when the ref should have returned to scrum penalty. 3. Marketing is weak and losing ground to AFL and NRL. Playing 2 days compared with 4. 4. Scheduling is unattractive to family attendance. Have any franchises heard of Sundays 2pm?
10 Go to commentsAbsolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
9 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
10 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
4 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
22 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
4 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
9 Go to commentsWell that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
34 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
34 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
14 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
4 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
5 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
6 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
22 Go to comments