SALE NARROWLY MISS ELUSIVE FIRST HOME VICTORY

Good to be back
By Jonathan Noad
November 3 2003

The Edgeley Park curse continues with Sale missing out on that elusive first home win of the season by a drop goal. In an entertaining match London Irish just shaded the game thanks largely to the boot of recalled stand off Barry Everitt.

Sale can feel unlucky not to have won this one scoring one more try than the Exiles. All was not doom and gloom though as Charlie Hodgson returned to the fold to great cheer from the Sale faithful.

The game started with great defence from both sides until Sale infringed in the tenth minute to allow Everitt to get the first points on the sheet with a penalty kick. Sale playing a tactical kicking game forced an error from Irish full back Horak which Graeme Bond latched onto to score his fourth try in the last five games. Van Straatens ever reliable boot kicked the conversion. However, Sale conceded a further 3 penalties in over the next 15 minutes before Van Straaten replied with a penalty on 33 minutes to take the scores to 10-12. A lapse in the Sale defence then led to Hardwick going over for the Exiles with Everitt duly converting. At half time Sale were behind 13-19.

The second half began with Sale conceding yet another penalty to the metronomic Everitt. The biggest cheer of the night came when Charlie Hodgson took to the field shortly after the break. Charlie certainly looked fit and although his kicking for touch was a bit awry he was certainly the same player we had been used to with great vision and quick ball. Sale edged back into the game to take the scores to 19-22 before they yet again conceded a penalty. Moving into the last 5 minutes Sale showed an urgency they had not shown most of the night with some wonderful direction from Hodgson. A lovely move with Hodgson spinning the ball to Hanley allowed Stan to crash over with Van Straaten converting to take Sale into a one point lead at 26-25. The crowd sensed that the game was not over in injury time and some tactical nouse may have saved the victory however the Irish scrambled a drop goal from Everitt with Sale now needing to attack even more to salvage the game. A Sale drop attempt was charged down the Exiles and nearly led to them scoring at the other end where the ref blew the whistle for time.

Next match up is Leeds Tykes at Edgeley Park on Saturday afternoon. Everybody will be wondering will Sale get their first win at Stockport? It will be interesting to see a game in daylight and to see whether Saturday afternoon at Stockport produces a bigger attendance or not. You just sense that sooner or later Sales game will click into place and when it does somebody is going to get walloped!


SCORING DETAILS

0-3 PENK 10 Min (Everitt)
5-3 TRY 12 Min (Bond)
7-3 CONV 12 Min (Van Straaten)
7-6 PENK 14 Min (Everitt)
7-9 PENK 23 Min (Everitt)
7-12 PENK 29 Min (Everitt)
10-12 PENK 33 Min (Van Straaten)
10-17 TRY 36 Min (Hardwick)
10-19 CONV 36 Min (Everitt)
13-19 PENK 40 Min (Van Straaten)

HALF TIME SALE SHARKS 13 LONDON IRISH 19

13-22 PENK 43 Min (Everitt)
16-22 PENK 47 Min (Van Straaten)
19-22 PENK 52 Min (Van Straaten)
19-25 PENK 58 Min (Everitt)
24-25 TRY 76 Min (Hanley)
26-25 CONV 76 Min (Van Straaten)
26-28 DROPG 80 Min (Everitt)

FULL TIME: SALESHARKS 26 LONDON IRISH 28

TEAMS

Sale Sharks

15 Going; 14 Cueto; 13 Van Straaten; 12 Bond; 11 Hanley; 10 Walshe; 9 Wigglesworth; 8 C. Jones; 7 Pinkerton; 6 Sanderson; 5 Schofield; 4 Fullarton; 3 Turner; 2 Titterell; 1 Yates

Replacements: 16 Cairns; 17 Sheridan; 18 Stewart; 19 Lund; 20 Devlin; 21 Mayor; 22 Hodgson

Scorers: Bond (1T) Hanley (1T) van Straaten (2C, 4P)

London Irish

15 Horak; 14 Sackey; 13 Appleford; 12 Hoadley; 11 Bishop; 10 Everitt; 9 Edwards; 6 Danaher; 7 Dawson; 8 Sheasby; 5 Strudwick; 4 Casey; 3 Hatley; 2 Drotske; 1 Hardwick Replacements: 16 Durant; 17 Flavin; 18 Roche; 19 Murphy; 20 Mordt; 21 Barrett; 22 Laidlor.

Scorers : Hardwick (1T) Everitt (1C,6P,1DG)