Sale Sharks 24 Gloucester 19

By Whaley Shark
February 8 2014

OK, so, slightly lost in a welter of cup competitions and the start of the Six Nations, we are past the halfway point in the AP programme, and tonight Gloucester, whom we ambushed down at Kingsholm on the opening day of the campaign, visit us…..    

Of course, Sale being Sale, we started off by gifting Gloucester a soft try. Rob Miller was pressured by a rapid follow up of a Gloucester kick into our 22. Without enough time to clear, he tried to run it out but was caught, and Gloucester fought to within five metres of the line. We managed to nick the ball but Gloucester took a quick throw-in and exploited a disorganised defence to cross on the left. On what was to prove a difficult night for kickers, with a gusting, swirling wind, the conversion went wide, but 0-5 down after three minutes is unlikely to have been in Dimes’ gameplan.

We then got a grip and spent most of the next 15 minutes in the Gloucester half. First of all, Rob Miller tried to compensate for his error, finishing off a move which started with our pack winning a scrum penalty which Danny Cipriani put into touch, followed by several phases of attack to take us to the Gloucester 22, and a really sharp run from Rob to finish on the left to tie the scores after ten minutes. The next five minutes was pretty similar, Gloucester knock-on, Sale scrum, Sale penalty, to touch in the corner this time, safe line-out, quick hands, Rob Miller over on the right.

Gloucester came back into the game as we moved into the second quarter. An innocuous enough kick, aiming for touch in our 22 went astray, Mark Cueto left the ball to bounce and, as it bobbled away from him, the flying Charlie Sharples nicked it, broke loose from Quates’ desperate tackle, and scored in the corner. With yet another conversion going wide, the scores were tied at 10-10 with half an hour gone.

Doing penance seemed to be a theme of the evening, as we managed to set Mark Cueto loose down the left to set up a decent attacking position. Gloucester couldn’t relieve the pressure and finally messed up a defensive line-out so comprehensively that their lock, James Hudson, ended up in the bin. A man up, the try was well executed- kick to the corner, win the line-out and drive Dan Braid over the line. The kickers finally broke their duck too, to send us in 17-10 up at half time.

We carried the momentum on in the first few minutes after the restart, too, pitching camp on the Gloucester line. While our first forays were unsuccessful, Gloucester’s prop, Puafisi, went off to keep James Hudson company in the bin, and we repeated the formula- penalty to touch, line-out, rolling maul, Dan Braid try. With a try bonus after 45 minutes and a 14 point lead, this was looking secure- or was it? A silly penalty from the restart allowed Freddie Burns to narrow the gap and, although we came close a couple of times, we weren’t able to add to our score. Another Gloucester penalty brought the scoreline to 24-16 with an hour gone.

The last quarter of the match was a pretty even arm-wrestle, but the only score was another Freddie Burns penalty three minutes from time, which secured a losing bonus for Gloucester and made the last few minutes a nervous watch. But we managed to close the game out, for a well-deserved five points.

All in all, a good performance- it surely has to be when we’ve banked five points from one of our mid-table rivals. Yes, there’s room for improvement, and it would be nice not to have seen a couple of brain-farts (can I say this on Sportnetwork?). Man of the match is difficult- I am actually going for Sam Tuitupou, solid in defence and a wrecking ball in attack. Bring on Saracens next week!