Sale 28 Gloucester 25
By snaderson
November 2 2009
10th vs. 9th. Both teams struggling to get their season started, both desperate to get some league points to pull away from that danger area. A recipe for open, flowing rugby or for don't-lose-at-all-costs rugby? snaderson pulled on his wellies and fired up the Massey-Ferguson to bring us this report.
After decidedly shaky starts to the season for both teams, it was imperative for Sale to win against a team sitting on the same number of points as them in the table. A number of recent games for Sale had gone very close but finished just the wrong way; there were promising signs but could they been turned into victory? Gloucester are no-one’s idea of a pushover and the talk was that their position so low down in the table didn’t reflect their true potential, with recent results rather flattering their opponents. Sale announced a fairly guessable team, given England and injury absentees, with Eifion switching to loosehead to fill the sizeable space left by the injured Sheridan, and Lee Thomas swapping places with Andy Tuilagi to start at outside centre. The Gloucester team looked pretty strong on paper with lots of well-known names: Vainikolo, Nicky Robinson, Simpson-Daniel, Tindall, Hazell.
Sale kicked off into the mild, dry night, facing a slight breeze. Straightaway Gloucester messed up the take and gave away a penalty. Charlie stepped up to slot over the three points all within the first minute. The game started properly after that with both sides running energetically. There was good continuity from Gloucester and some good movement from Sale, Carl Fearns looking particularly lively, though taking a battering for his troubles. The lineouts were well contested: Sale nicking one and giving away another with an overthrow. Marc Jones clearly didn’t take any knocks to his confidence and he happily chucked a few more long lineouts successfully.
Gloucester evened things up with an opportunistic drop goal from Nicky Robinson while Tuilagi was getting some treatment on his leg. Eventually he limped off the field to be replaced by Jonny Kennedy – a young man with something to prove on a big occasion. Leg injuries were to be a theme for the night. After a Gloucester maul that Dean Schofield stopped with a mighty steal, Mike Tindall limped off having pulled a hamstring in the build up. A blow to Martin Johnson’s hopes for the England squad, and one felt keenly by Tindall who thumped the seats of the dugout in frustration.
The pressure came on against Gloucester as Sale put a series of chips in behind the defence to force them into a corner. Another up and under from Charlie was aggressively chased by Lee Thomas, looking very sharp, who won a penalty. Charlie kicked the points comfortably.
The physicality of the game was on show again as Rory Lawson, looking quite bulky these days, bounced off Sisa Koyamaibole like a rubber ball. Jonny Kennedy received similar treatment from Vainikolo and staggered around for a few minutes - you could almost see the little birds twittering round his head. Luckily he recovered and was soon hauling bodies around in the next ruck.
Thomas won another penalty with a big hit following up a kick and had a go for the post himself from over halfway. He missed but big kicks were the order of the day as first McLeod (through indecision) and then Robinson saw their kicks from hand dribble over the dead ball line. At the scrappy Sale scrum, Dwayne Peel tidied the ball up and scooted forwards. With some unwanted attention from the defending side, he slipped the ball out sideways somehow to an on-hand Lee Thomas who applied the gas and dived over the try line just to the right of the posts. Charlie picked up the extras.
The joy for the Sale fans was to be short-lived however. Gloucester again showed good continuity to press forwards. Simpson-Daniel ran fast and elusively to make ground and quick ball made the most of the position. The move finished with Voyce diving in at the corner.
Robinson missed the conversion and further blotted his copybook when Wayne Barnes judged players offside from his up and under. Charlie kicked the penalty to take the score to 16 – 8 after 35 minutes. There was a controversial moment at the kick-off. Charlie Sharples, on for Tindall, made no attempt to play the ball and span the receiver, Marika Vakacegu, around in the air, landing him heavily on his neck. It was a very worrying moment for the home fans but it turned out well as Vakacegu recovered to his feet and Sharples received a red card. It was perhaps a slightly harsh judgement but the ‘tackle’ had undoubtedly been dangerous. The half finished with Gloucester applying some more pressure thanks to good running by ex-Saleian Scott Lawson.
Soon into the second half the curse of the legs struck again and Andy Hazell, after lengthy treatment, limped off the field. The energy seemed to go out of the game and there was a period of kicking, leading to a Gloucester penalty for offside from a charged-down drop goal attempt. Robinson kicked it only for Sale to be awarded a penalty in their turn which Charlie slotted. Another bad injury happened on 48 minutes. Brent Cockbain carried the ball powerfully upfield but when he hit the ground, he didn’t get up again. He seemed to be in some pain, indicating his back (subsequently reported as a torn hamstring). After some treatment he was stretchered off towards the ambulance to generous applause from the Sale crowd who are learning to appreciate the strengths he brings to the team (I was one of those doubters and I’m quite happy to admit I was wrong).
Five minutes later Sale won another penalty, which Charlie again kicked. More aimless kicking to and fro took place. Robinson seemed to be always on hand to field Sale’s kicks and nothing much came from either team’s attempts. The crowd didn’t think much of this sort of spectacle and booed one exchange of aimless aerial tennis. After Robinson missed a penalty attempt, he stuck the next one into the corner to lead to a series of scrums. The Sale scrum buckled and Will James dived over for the second Gloucester try at 65 minutes, with Robinson adding the extras to make the score an uncomfortable 22 - 18. The Sale fans weren’t expecting this against a team of 14 men, but this is how the half played out, with various Sale players booting the ball upfield every time they had possession and letting Gloucester do all the running. The territorial stats would no doubt show hugely in Gloucester’s advantage.
Jonny Kennedy succumbed to yet another leg problem so Ben Cohen moved into centre to allow Oriol Ripol onto the wing. Ori clearly can’t have been told the game plan as he took the ball in hand and ran up the field, neatly offloading to Vakacegu who also realised that he could run with the ball. Lots of ground was made until Gloucester killed the move illegally. Mr Barnes gave the offender a talking to but didn’t bin him, as you might have expected. Charlie popped the ball over and then three minutes later, at 76 minutes, had another go from near the halfway line and near the touchline. He struck it magnificently to nudge Sale’s lead out a bit further: 28 - 18.
Gloucester weren’t going to give up, not when Sale were so happy to let them have the ball. The West Country boys’ relentless pressure, despite some loose passing that wasn’t punished by the home side, eventually yielded a try for Kiwi prop Greg Somerville on 78 minutes which Robinson failed to convert. The score was 28 – 23 and as the clock ticked to zero Peel decided enough was enough and kicked the ball out.
So you have to look at the positives: it was a win and an important win at that; Sisa showed himself to be a monster with ball in hand again; Peel showed his sharpness (even if Mr Barnes refused his every attempt to take quick penalties); Charlie’s place-kicking, after some early-season waywardness, is back to its best. There is a worrying willingness to kick possession away though, as if there’s a lack of confidence in playing the ball through the hands – a lack of confidence that ought to be easily dispelled as the running game clearly paid dividends. Gloucester showed us a thing or two in their running lines with support runners popping up behind the ball carrier from all angles. We just need a bit more invention to take the game to the opposition. Perhaps the struggle for Premiership survival means we can’t take any risks. It would be a shame not to believe those risks worth taking.