Sale Sharks - The PSA years; part 4

By Whaley Shark
August 9 2009

The Who sang about “The highest high” and, for us, that had been followed by what must be close to “The lowest low”. However, that was all in the past and, with the squad being further strengthened by signings including Rory Lamont and All Black star, Luke McAlister, due after the World Cup, we’re bound to get back to the success of two years ago, aren’t we?

Well, thanks to eleven players being away on World Cup duty and the fixture list sending us to Kingston Park, probably our biggest bogey ground, for the first game, not necessarily. Toby Flood took advantage of a strong wind to orchestrate a fine Falcons performance on a filthy day and we went down badly, conceding four tries and never looking competitive. A comfortable home win, 20-6, against a rather feeble Bristol followed. We scored only one try, but Charlie Hodgson, feeling his way back after his knee injury, turned in a fine kicking performance with 15 of our 20 points. September finished with a narrow loss away to Bath. After Bath took an early lead, Charlie’s kicking and a Ripol try kept us ahead until the latter stages, but a Shaun Berne penalty and a narrow miss by Charlie at the death gave Bath the win and us a losing bonus point.

A struggling Wasps side, with no wins in the first three rounds of the Premiership, were next to visit Stockport. Charlie survived an early assassination attempt from Daniel Leo, then gave yet another masterclass which, together with a Lionel Faure try, sent Wasps back down the M6 on the wrong end of a comfortable 16-0 win. Our inconsistency persisted the next week, away at Kingsholm. After we pinched an early lead, in-form Gloucester fought back and the first half ended 12-12 as Sililo Martens nipped past Mike Tyndall to score. Early in the second half, tighter play from the Gloucester pack set up two Leon Lloyd tries in quick succession while Sean Cox was in the sin bin. Robust Gloucester defence meant we never got back into the game, finally losing 31-12. Saracens, chasing Gloucester at the top of the Premiership were next on the list at Edgeley Park. The visitors took a half time lead, with their scores including a fine handling move. However, a sparkling performance from wing Rory Lamont, who scored one try himself and made another for Wiggy, and an impeccable kicking performance from Charlie, gave us a 34-30 win and our first try bonus of the season.

When the Premiership resumed in late November, we visited struggling Worcester, took an early lead and never looked back, gaining a comfortable bonus point win on a freezing night. Luke McAlister slotted in to the side comfortably on his debut. After another break for cup action, Leicester Tigers visited Edgeley Park just before Christmas and, in the battle of the 10s, Charlie came out ahead of the erratic Andy Goode in a 20-14 win. A trip to Leeds just before New Year gave us a 4-try bonus point win. After Leeds had the best of a tight first half, tries from Lee Thomas, Oriol Ripol and Julien Laharrague made the game safe.

We started 2008 with a trip to London Irish and, without the injured Charlie Hodgson, showed little in attack as we went down 20-12 in a tetchy match. We returned to form at home against Harlequins at the end of the month, as a Ripol try finished off an excellent move started by Mark Cueto and taken on by Rory Lamont, tipping a finely balanced game in our favour.  Two tries from Luke McAlister and substitute Chris Bell, together with an immaculate kicking display from Charlie, then gave us a convincing 29-3 home win against Leeds. Having done the double over Leeds, we then went away to Welford Road and repeated the trick.  Three McAlister penalties gave us a narrow lead going onto the last ten minutes, but Tigers thought they had nicked it when Jordan Crane was driven over. However, Chabal, fired up by rejection from the French squad, crashed over in the right corner to give us an 11-14 win. However, back at home in poor weather at the end of February, the winning run ended as, missing the injured McAlister, we fell behind to Worcester from the first ten minutes, and couldn’t find any way back into the game.

Away to Saracens in early March, we missed a chance for an early try, then Saracens got into gear and ran up a 21-0 lead. In spite of a comeback, including tries by Oriol Ripol and Sebastien Chabal, it wasn’t enough and we ended 24-20 losers. Table-topping Gloucester then visited Stockport and a confident Charlie Hodgson, kicking 17 points and making a try for Ben Foden, led the way to a 22-16 win, keeping us in touch with the playoff places. The away game at Wasps was then postponed due to mysterious permafrost at Adams Park and, after that wasted trip, the next weekend saw Bath visit Edgeley Park in heavy rain. Charlie Hodgson adjusted well, kicked 5 penalties and set up a Ripol try with a cross kick, and Bath had no reply. The evening was spoiled by a contentious incident between Lee Thomas and Shaun Berne, who lost several teeth in a collision which subsequently led to a season-ending ban for Lee. Away at Bristol, at the start of eight days in which we had to play three times, the game came to life in the second half and tries from Sean Cox, Chris Jones and Ben Foden gave us a 17-24 win. Next up, the rearranged away game at Wasps on the Tuesday night with the Wasps internationals conveniently back. Wasps took a commanding lead and, apart from a late Ben Foden try which brought us some respectability, always looked like winning. A gruelling week ended with a spectacular win at home against Newcastle. The try bonus was secure by half time, and a further four tries in the second half gave a final score of 53-10. A solid forward performance was the foundation for a win away at Harlequins, which always looked comfortable until Sherri and Corcho were sin-binned towards the end and Quins fought  back to pick up a losing bonus point. The last game of the regular season was Irish at home and it all went horribly wrong, with a lacklustre performance which saw us go 12-0 down by half time, and fail to overcome some resolute Irish defending before finally losing 7-17 and ending outside the playoff places. That was an anticlimactic end to the season but perhaps a fair outcome for a season where we had performed in fits and starts, and spent most of the time in mid-table.


Regular season summary-

Played 22 Won 14 Drawn 0 Lost 8
Points for 481 Points against 374
Tries for 44 Tries against 37
Try bonus 4 Losing bonus 3
Total points 63

Highest league position 3
Lowest league position 11
Final league position 5