Sale Sharks 6 Toulon 17

By Whaley Shark
December 11 2012

 Yes, it was quiet on here after the Toulon game, and that comment made me ponder why I didn’t have much to say either?

In pondering, I missed the rather narrow window in which it’s worth writing up a blow-by-blow match report, but that was maybe as well, because there wasn’t a vast amount to say. Yes, we were competitive, more organised and more together than so far this season, and there was some serious defensive commitment at the end to keep Toulon out, but we were also always second best, and I felt Toulon had at least one extra gear if they needed it. As it was, they didn’t. They seized on an error and a lucky bounce to run in a pretty soft try, and never looked back. They were content to keep us playing deep downfield and collect four points. We were maybe flattered by Johnny’s rather poor day with the boot (I can only guess that he’s gone soft on the Côte d’Azur because the Newcastle-based Johnny would have kicked flawlessly in far worse conditions, week in, week out). Equally, if Toulon had picked up a second soft try right at the end, I’d have felt that was a rather unfair scoreline which didn’t do justice to some excellent Sale defence. So, all in all, probably a fair result on the day, as a Toulon side playing rather within themselves beat a Sale side who turned in perhaps their most disciplined and committed performance of the season.

So that is good, and I am very glad to see it, but was it the Mitchell effect, or the stimulation of playing a start-studded Toulon side in a televised match? I don’t know, and only time will tell. The real question, though, is what it means for our Premiership future?

If it is the start of a revival, a committed team playing together and looking like they care, then that’s just fabulous and, whether or not we go down at the end of the season, we’ll go down fighting and with some pride, and that’s all I’d ask. To survive, though, we need to sustain it beyond January, when player moves start to be announced, and we may find ourselves depending on players whose futures lie elsewhere to put their bodies on the line week after week, scrapping for a losing bonus point on a rainy Friday night in February, with a crowd of 5000 or so. That’s the true magnitude of the challenge which faces us. A dozen more performances like Saturday, and we’ll have a chance; slide back to the mediocrity of the first half of the season, and we’re doomed. Over to you Mr Mitchell!