Sharks Gain Revenge Over Slow Starting Tigers

00mrSale
By Vicky_c
September 5 2004

This was always going to be a tense and niggly affair, and so it proved on a bright summer afternoon in Stockport. Sale started much more brightly than Leicester, immediately applying pressure and Tigers only took 2 minutes to concede their first penalty of the season following an offence at the ruck.

Mike Hercus, the USA Eagles number 10, stepped up but pulled the kick to the left of the upright.

Sale seemed much more physical going forward and this was epitomised by the hard running of their number 8, Sebastien Chabal, who didn’t stop all afternoon. Some wide back play by Sale led to another penalty 2 minutes later when Leon Lloyd was penalised for going over the top at a ruck. Leicester received another let-off when Hercus hooked this second attempt past the left upright.

A high drop out by Goode led to another Sale attack. Cueto was tackled by Ellis, but Sale started to spin the ball wide and Hercus hoisted the ball into the corner for Jason Robinson to collect and score in the corner. Hercus must have left his kicking boots on the bus and missed the resulting conversion.

It was all Sharks, and the Tigers didn’t gain any meaningful possession until the 7th minute. The first line-out in the 8th minute was collected by Corry. The ball was recycled and Goode spun the ball to Holtby who took it into contact, only for Ellis to be scragged by Chabal and giving away a turnover.
Leicester slowly began to get themselves into the game, and the second lineout went through several pairs of hands to Geordan Murphy who chipped through and almost re-gathered, except that the bounce was erratic and he collided with Jaso Robinson and the ball went out.

The resulting lineout was gathered and the familiar catch and drive began to rumble towards the Sale line. The maul collapsed, and Harry Ellis picked up and drove for the line, but was deemed to be held up by the Television Match Official.
The 5m scrum resulted in a penalty for Tigers who chose to scrum again. There was a further penalty for not binding and Tigers decided to go again. However it wasn’t third time lucky as Woodman got underneath Darren Morris and Tigers were penalised for standing up. Hercus cleared, and an opportunity was lost.

Tiger’s woe continued when Murphy found himself semi-isolated and coughed up the ball, and soon afterwards Healey found himself in a similar situation when he was tackled by Hanley in the process of catching the ball.

More pressure from Sale saw them back in Tigers territory and Redpath intercepted a slightly wayward pass from Will Skinner, and avoided a desperate tackle from Eliis to score Sale’s second try. Hercus missed the conversion and the score was 10-0.
Chabal meanwhile was proving a real handful and was drawing in 2 or 3 tacklers each time to stop him. Sale were awarded another penalty and Hercus duly kept Tigers in the game by missing again. It’s worth mentioning that at this stage he was 0 from 5 kicks.

Sale continued to pressure and Healey found himself isolated with no support. Sale looked a lot more cohesive than Leicester and found themselves in position for a drop goal attempt which bounced off the posts. Goode cleared only for the ball to come back to Cueto who wasted an opportunity when he passed straight into touch.
Healey was prevented from scoring after a deft chip through when he was tackled by Robinson on his way to collect the ball. Corry picked up and set up good position, the ball found its way to Goode and eventually to Gibson who scored in the corner. Goode showed the way as far as kicking was concerned and slotted the conversion straight between the uprights.

Healey started popping up in the centre looking for work, and another move saw play moving laterally across field which resulted in a neatly struck drop goal from Goode.

The restart saw Gibson tackled in front of his own post. Too many missed tackles saw the ball go from Hanley to Baxendell to Cueto, who ran in unmarked. Hercus found the uprights this time to convert the score.

Tigers looked hungry for work, but Chabal showed great strength especially from the base of the scrum. Tigers started going forward again, and Lloyd did a nice pick and drive only to be driven back in the tackle. Goode followed up with another nice drop goal and half time arrived with Tigers still in it.

The second half saw Hercus replaced by Hodgson. Chabal inflicted more damage into the Tigers ranks with strong tackling. Leicester started going forward and were rewarded with a penalty in front of the posts, duly converted by Goode.

Again, Chabal ran strongly at the Tigers defence, resulting in missed tackles. Sale continued to pressure which resulted in a drop goal attempt which Hodgson missed. Both sides replaced members of the front row and this saw both Sheridan and White take to the field in the place of Stewart and Morris.

A nice break by Ellis resulted in a pass to Goode, but unfortunately the ball was spilled in the tackle resulting in turnover.

More patient build up in which Sale showed good defence, resulted in a Tigers penalty when Chabal elbowed Corry in the face in front of the referee. Goode duly converted and Tigers took the lead for the first time in the match.
Healey left the field with a blood injury and was replaced by Seru Rabeni, making his debut.

More replacements followed on both sides. Goode started to work the corners but failed to find touch. Tigers were guilty of not chasing up and Sale cleared comfortably.

Rabeni was offered little opportunity to show his skills and the one chance that he did have was adjudged forward by the referee.

Healey came back to the field to replace Holtby and Kay was replaced by Louis Deacon. Leicester’s lead was short lived when a Sale move was rewarded by a sweet drop goal from Hodgson.

Hodgson and Goode exchanged booming kicks, and there was yet more turnover ball for Sale when Ellis slipped 5m from the Sale try line and coughed up yet another turnover.

Sale almost sealed the game when Jones intercepted and was called back for an earlier infringement. Gibson and Goode failed to combine which resulted in more turnover ball for Sale, and Tigers conceded the penalty when Abraham was penalised for hands in the ruck. Hodgson duly obliged and slotted a further penalty in the 74th minute from in front of the posts.

Another penalty 3 minutes later sealed the match for Sale and they deserved the win. Chabal was voted man of the match and deservedly so.

Leicester always looked a yard off the pace, missed too many tackles, lacked penetration and coughed up way too much ball. When they are on the pace and they protect the ball as they should, they will be a force to contend with. Let’s hope that comes next week at home against Leeds.

Scores:

Try: Robinson Sale 5 – 0 Leicester
Try: Redpath Sale 10 – 0 Leicester
Try: Gibson Sale 10 – 5 Leicester
Conv: Goode Sale 10 – 7 Leicester
DG: Goode Sale 10 – 10 Leicester
Try: Cueto Sale 15 – 10 Leicester
Conv: Hercus Sale 17 – 10 Leicester
DG: Goode Sale 17 – 13 Leicester
Pen: Goode Sale 17 – 16 Leicester
Pen: Goode Sale 17 – 19 Leicester
DG: Hodgson Sale 20 – 19 Leicester
Pen: Hodgson Sale 23 – 19 Leicester
Pen: Hodgson Sale 26 – 19 Leicester

Teams:

Sale Sharks:

15 Jason Robinson (c), 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Jos Baxendell, 12 Robert Todd,
11 Steve Hanley, 10 Mike Hercus (Hodgson, 40 minutes), 9 Bryan Redpath (Martens 58 minutes), 1 Trevor Woodman, 2 Sebastien Bruno (Titterrell, 58 minutes), 3 Barry Stewart (Sheridan, 47 minutes), 4 Dean Schofield (Jones, 58 minutes), 5 Chris Day, 6 Jason White (Caillet, 79 minutes), 7 Magnus Lund, 8 Sebastien Chabal.

Replacements: Andy Titterell, Andrew Sheridan, Pierre Caillet, Chris Jones, Sililo Martens, Charlie Hodgson, Chris Mayor

Leicester Tigers:

15 Geordan Murphy, 14 John Holtby (Healey, 63 minutes), 13 Leon Lloyd (Smith, 58 minutes), 12 Daryl Gibson, 11 Austin Healey (Rabeni, 56-63 minutes), 10 Andy Goode, 9 Harry Ellis, 1 Graham Rowntree, 2 George Chuter, 3 Darren Morris (White, 47 minutes), 4 Martin Johnson (c), 5 Ben Kay (Louis Deacon, 67 minutes), 6 Brett Deacon (Abraham, 74 minutes), 7 Will Skinner, 8 Martin Corry.

Replacements: James Buckland, Julian White, Luke Abraham, Louis Deacon, Ross Broadfoot, Ollie Smith, Seru Rabeni