European Shield Champions!
Moment of victory!
By Sarah Braide
May 27 2002
We won the Parker Pen Shield! A narrow 25-22 victory for Sale over Pontypridd at Oxford's Kassam stadium secured our first silverware in a very long time.
But Sale weren't going to make it wasy for themselves by playing well in the first half, oh no. It seems we do better when there is a lead to chase and Ponty's 15-3 advantage at half time proved just the challenge we needed.
The Kassam stadium turned out to be OK with the injection of soul it received from 12,000 singing rugby fans. Sharky was subdued before the game and the opera singing on the pitch was a little strange but the crowd was raring to go right from the start.
Ponty were first up with the scoring, kicking a penalty just after kick-off and following up with a drop-goal for Ceri Sweeney a few minutes later. They missed a further penalty and then in about the tenth minute, Sale werepenalised for pulling down a maul and Brett Davey put over another penalty goal to put his side up 9-0.
There was a worrying statistic that appeared on the board after 15 minutes that said Ponty had enjoyed something like 75% of the territory up to that point. Fortunately this was when Sale started to play a bit better and had a few foray's into Ponty's half. One attack featured a particularly good charge from Mark Cueto, and in stopping it the opposition gave a way a penalty. Charlie Hodgson kicked it to score Sale's first points.
Ponty's domination in possession and territory continued and Sale certainly weren't doing themselves any favours with all the penalties and spilling of the ball. Kevin Yates was sin-binned ten or so minutes before the end of the half for taking someone's legs out in the air at a line-out. With Ponty's pack being so strong, a loss in our forwards was definitely not good news.
Near the end of the half Sale won a penalty near the opposition line but elected to kick for touch rather than go for the three points. We won the line-out and would have scored but for a knock-on just short of the line. A try before the break would have been a good confidence booster but as it was, we went in nine points down having not looked particularly threatening.
The team obviously have belief on these occasions that they can come out after half-time and claw back the lead and this is rubbing off on the supporters. After watching our comeback against Gloucester in the semi-final, we had faith that Sale would be much better in the second half. Ponty were playing well but they had not had to defend against any of the usual ingenuity of the Sale backs. Whatever it is that Jim says at half time, he said it again on Sunday and it had the desired effect.
Three minutes after the restart Charlie kicked a penalty to begin the fightback. Now Sale were the ones with all the possession and territory and we were putting lots of pressure on the Pontypridd line. In the 52nd minute Sale succeeded in overwhelming the defence and Martin Shaw was the one to run through a gap and score the first try. Charlie didn't get the conversion.
Steve Hanley had a great game both offensively and defensively but the highlight came in the 56th minute as, with Sale once more on the attack, Martin Shaw floated a lovely pass past Jason Robinson and out to Steve Hanley on the left wing. He beat two tackles to reach the line and finally touched down behind the posts, making the conversion a formality for Charlie. That score put Sale ahead for the first time on the game but Ponty were anything but finished.
They battled on and in the 67th minute took the decision to use a close-in penalty to kick for touch rather than go for goal. Three points would have put them equal with Sale but Ponty obviously had well placed confidence in their forwards. After winning the line-out they drove powerfully over the line and Mefin Davies scored the try. Davey kicked the conversion.
Sale made a couple of substiutions, taking off Charl Marais and Mel Deane for Andy Titterell and Dan Harris. With ten minutes left on the clock we got a penalty deep in the opposition half. Again the decision was made to go for touch rather than take the points but the initial drive did not secure us a try. Instead we had put in to a scrum and worked the ball to Charlie Hodgson who delayed a pass to Dan Harris just long enough to tie up Ponty's defence and allow Harris to charge under the posts. With a successful conversion Sale went 25-22 up.
We were not spared a nail-biting conclusion as Ponty pressured Sale in the remaining minutes, but in injury time it finally seemed that Sale had a chance to seal the win with a straight penalty kick. Alas Charlie put it wide, but soon enough the ref blew the final whistle and the celebrations began.
Everyone played well but Pete Anglesea was the official man of the match.
"To win a trophy for a club with a bunch of lads you are willing to die for is absolutely fantastic," he said.
"There is a great team spirit and you know every play is totally committed. The supporters deserve great credit too. They were heavily outnumbered in the semi-final against Gloucester and the same again today. But they make a lot of noise and I made sure my mum came along to yell too."