Sharks just Fin-ish on top

By Raz Junior
November 16 2003

It was an exciting game in which Tigers dominated possession and territory but Sale were more clinical with their finishing. After 95mins of rugby the sides were locked together but the end of extra-time proved too much for a Tigers side who had given it their all.

Leicester Tigers 28
Tries: Baxter, Richards, Smith
Pens: Pez (3)
Cons: Pez, Booth

Sale Sharks 43
Tries: Cueto, Hanly (2), Bond (2), Mayor
Pens: Van Straaten
Cons: Van Straaten (5)


Even though Tigers are out the cup there are a lot of positives: the forwards were dominant and they gave the backs a lot of possession. New boys, Richards and Baxter, each scored their second tries for the club in two weeks. Smith, who despite playing well hasn’t scored a lot of points this season, also got his name on the score card. Tigers will think that with the amount of possession and territory they had they should have won.

Saying that, a couple of things cost them dear. Firstly letting in three soft, similar tries and secondly a moment of madness from my club, South Leicester’s, hero Harry Ellis. Tigers had just won a line out on the halfway line and driven several yards easily when they were given a penalty when Sale collapsed the maul. What they should have done was kick for the Shark’s 22 and driven over the line. Instead Hazzer took it quickly, lost the ball in contact and Sale scored a try from the turnover. So instead of it being 16-21 with a lineout close to Sale’s line it ended up being 16-28 and back to the centre spot. But to their credit they brought it back to 28-28 with two quick tries and Hazzer redeemed himself in the second by charging down Jonny jnr’s ( Charlie Hodgeson ) kick to allow Smithy to score.

In a thrilling contest the scoring sequence went like this:

8 mins-Pez scores a penalty when tigers had several chances to score a try. Tigers are caught napping at the restart and concede a scrum. From the scrum Sale just passed it along the line unopposed and Cueto literally walked over in the corner.6-7. Going had joined the line to create an overlap and Tigers didn’t pick this up.

On 17 minutes Pez scores his second penalty following good pressure.

30mins-Sale did a nice little move and Hanley , coming from the other wing, took advantage of poor defence to stroll in to the same corner as before.6-14

37mins-Superb break by Ellis who off-loads to Kronfeld who in turn off-loads to Baxter who dives over the line to take the score to 13-14. Now we just need to keep it tight until halftime.

But then on 41 minutes we all watch a replay of the first two tries as Hanley scores in the same corner past Freddie. 13-21 at halftime.

On 47 minutes Pez kicks a penalty after brave work on the floor by Balding. 16-21.

On 56 minutes Freddie makes a mess of tackling Bond who scores near the posts. 16-28. ( Booth on for Freddie.)

65 minutes and a catch and drive produces a try for Jim Richards. Pez misses the conversion. 21-28

67 minutes and Harry brilliantly charges down a Hodgson kick and Ollie Smith kicks through and scores. Booth converts. 28-28.

Both sides could have had a winning score but after 87 minutes it was 28-28.

Extra time was scoreless in the first half. Then in the second minute of the second half of extra time Bond on a scissors move scores by the posts through a very tired defence.

16 minutes into extra time an overthrown Tigers line out leads to a Braam van Straaten penalty. 28-38.

On 20 minutes Tigers , desperate to keep the ball alive concede a late try to Mayor making the final score a very harsh 28-43.

For me Deacon, Kronfeld and Smith were good, Morris improved again and Jim Richards also had a good game. For Sale Hanley, Bond and Cueto were the match winners.

On a more unpleasant note we found out that it wasn’t jetlag holding Austin Healey back, it was the Shark’s drink carrier. Hodgson had made a great clearance and Oz was obstructed by the drinks man as he tried to catch the ball and then was pulled back by the shirt as he tried to take a line out quickly. Sale had obviously found a different way to use sixteen men.

Overall it was a fantastic game of rugby and the five and a half thousand of us who bothered to turn up can take heart from the improved performance.