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Sale Sharks end losing streak with win over Saints
Sale Sharks produced an impressive display to end a three-game losing run following a comfortable 22-10 triumph over Northampton Saints at the AJ Bell Stadium.
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The Sharks were excellent in the opening quarter and deservedly went 10-0 in front through Chris Ashton’s try and Rob du Preez’s penalty, but the Saints hit back.
Dan Biggar kicked a three-pointer before Lewis Ludlam powered over to level the scores at the interval.
Northampton were the better side going into half-time but Sale controlled matters brilliantly in the second period and touched down twice via Rohan Janse van Rensburg and Akker van der Merwe.
They also went in search of the bonus point but the hosts failed to take a number of opportunities that presented themselves.
Steve Diamond’s men have struggled to find their rhythm this season, despite going into the round six action in fifth position, but they were much improved.
The Sharks played with far more intensity, with powerhouse hooker Van der Merwe to the fore, and fly-half Du Preez rewarded their dominance with a penalty.
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Sale built on that opening attack and continued to build pressure on the visitors. Northampton were not helping themselves, however, and mistakes allowed the hosts to dominate possession and territory.
One such error, from the usually reliable Cobus Reinach, then resulted in the Sharks opening up a 10-point buffer as the scrum-half’s pass was intercepted and finished by Ashton.
That elephant is getting smallerhttps://t.co/jyl1M8N3CT
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 21, 2019
Northampton were under pressure but, to their credit, they responded excellently and reduced the arrears via the accurate kicking of Biggar.
It was the spark the visitors needed and a superb Rory Hutchinson break moved the away side to within inches of the line. An infringement from the Sharks halted the move but, from the resultant lineout, Ludlam touched down to level matters at the break.
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The Saints had finished the first half the brighter, creating a number of opportunities, but half-time came at the wrong moment and enabled Diamond’s team to regroup.
"I was just a bit annoyed that was the way it was portrayed"https://t.co/FMIBE5X0Hh
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 21, 2019
Sale began the second period on the front foot with their power runners causing problems for the visiting rearguard. Janse van Rensburg had already shown his quality by barrelling through would-be tacklers and a few minutes later the centre did the same to score and give the Sharks a 17-10 advantage.
Chris Boyd’s men were back under duress and they conceded soon after as a dominant driving maul from the hosts resulted in the prolific Van der Merwe touching down.
That left Northampton outfit with plenty to do and they struggled to get through a sturdier opposition defence. As a result, Sale dictated proceedings and should have crossed the whitewash for the fourth time, but they were unable to secure the bonus point.
Press Association
Comments on RugbyPass
Big empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy 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!
5 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 …
34 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.
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