U21s crash to home defeat vs Sale

1st try
By Duncan Wood
November 2 2002

Not even Paul Hodgson's introduction and try could save the U21s from defeat today. They lost at home in the league for the first time as Sale adapted well to the conditions and outmuscled the Shoguns up front.

It was a typical wintery day at Coombe Dingle with a strong wind blowing the length of the pitch and the rain teaming down.

Sale played with it at their backs in the first half and easily camped in the Shogun's 22. They were helped by Bristol's tendancy to fall foul of the ref and give away countless penalties.

Whenever Bristol did get possession, they couldn't clear it far because of the elements and their lineout was failing to function. The strength of the wind was demonstrated after a couple of minutes when the Sale full back went for goal from inside his own half. He missed left but had plenty of distance.

Considering the pressure they were under early on, the Bristol defence was superb. They were constantly pinned down near their own line as the Sale forwards turned the screw.

A try had to come and it was slightly unfortunate as James Bailey nearly intercepted but was adjudged to have deliberately knocked on. The penalty led to the ball being moved left and the Sale right winger coming into the line and scoring despite Tom Luke's tackle.

Sale seemed to spend the rest of half using the rolling maul as a tactic and it paid handsome dividends. Three times they forced their way over as Bristol were sadly outmuscled upfront.

Bristol were missing some regulars in the pack and were also on the receiving end of two yellow cards. The last two tries were against a 7 man pack.

Bristol only had a Danny Gray penalty to show for their efforts and turned around 27-3 down.

Paul Hodgson and Chris Rowland were introduced early and both were prominent as Bristol looked a different team. Hodgson himself scampered over from a close range ruck and Luke Harris was at the bottom of a catch and drive.

Scott Witcomb then drove over from close range, Sale had a man sinbinned and an unlikely comeback looked on the cards. However, the Sale defence held as the Shoguns threw everything at them and Bristol looked as though they could have won it given another 10 minutes.

A strange game, the proverbial match of two halves. All Sale in the first half and all Bristol in the second. However, Sale deserved it for the dominance of their pack early on.