Sale Sharks 14 – 10 Saracens

Saracens slumped to yet another defeat away from home in the Aviva Premiership as their inconsistency continues to hamper their attempt to secure a play-off spot. Where the previous game at home to Bath had been full of enterprise, intensity, pace & power, this was a return to the ponderous, one dimensional performance that the travelling support have become accustomed to this season. Their cause was not helped by the late withdrawal of Charlie Hodgson (much to the disappointment of the home fans), meaning a shift from fullback to fly-half for Goode, Wyles into the 15 shirt and Nils Mordt onto the replacements bench.

Sarries made a good start to the game and soon earned a penalty 40 metres from the Sale line. I thought it was a reflection of the blustery conditions rather than any attacking intent that Goode opted to kick into the corner and when they were awarded another penalty at the lineout, he this time chose a kick at goal. By his own very high standards it was a poor effort as the ball drifted well wide from 25 metres out on the left hand 15 metre line. The miss seemed to galvanise Sale into life and they started to gain territory and possession. Cipriani was winning the kicking competition comfortably, forcing Saracens deeper into defence. Their forwards too were starting to gain supremacy at the breakdown, slowing down Saracens attacking ball with apparent ease. (i.e. not conceding penalties!)

The one they did concede was on halfway and Goode made amends for his first miss with an excellent kick to give Sarries the lead after 17 minutes. They almost scored again from the restart. The enigmatic Bosch caught the ball, ducked under a would-be tackler and sent Strettle running down the left wing. His chip over the last defender bounced favourably for Sale who were able to clear. It was good, quick, counter-attacking play - sadly, it did not stir them onto greater things. Sale went to Plan A – kick for territory, force Saracens to kick to touch in their own half and then dominate the lineout & maul. It’s a well tried and tested Steve Diamond tactic; everyone knew it was coming but Sarries inability to stop it was quite alarming.

Following the Strettle break and some aerial ping-pong, Sarries kicked the ball out on halfway. The rest was predictable. Sale lineout – catch, drive, penalty. Cipriani kick into the corner – and a very good kick it was too. Sale lineout – catch, drive, try. Well, not exactly! Saracens did manage to stop the initial drive, with much credit to du Plessis, but when the ball went left through the backline, Cipriani found Tuitupou with a sublime ‘handoff’, allowing the centre to wander in unopposed. It was a wonderful piece of skill but, from a Saracens perspective, questions must be asked about the defensive line. Barritt did well to shadow Cipriani across field but I feel Bosch should have done much better in picking up the run of Tuitupou. Cipriani added the simple conversion to give Sale the lead 7-3 after 22 mins.

Saracens continued to hit the self-destruct button. Burger was sent to the sin bin for a dangerous tackle, committed on halfway where no threat existed. The forwards did very well to repel the subsequent lineout, catch & drive, but the momentum had turned significantly. Matters were not helped with Barritt requiring lengthy treatment to his hamstring. Up to that point, he had offered some ‘go forward’ with ball in hand, but it appeared following the injury that he became a lot more cautious and did not run with the same intent. This in turn limited the options available to Goode, who in my opinion remains an outstanding fullback but unconvincing at fly-half. With slow ball and a solid Sale defensive line, it needed some more creative thinking to move the defenders out of position – perhaps a cross-field kick or little chip kick over the line – but he persisted with lateral running, thus taking any pace out of the game and giving the wingers no space. He certainly has the skill set, but it’s knowing when to drop deep and play the defence that’s in front rather than trying to do your own thing.

Things got worse after 35 minutes as Hargreaves was forced off, to be replaced by Hayden Smith. His first contribution was to miss three tackles in quick succession. Before his departure to New York Jets, Smith had appeared to be developing into a quality second row. Unfortunately he has not been able to regain those levels since his return. As half time approached, I was quite happy that Sarries only trailed by 4 points, and felt confident that they would rectify the situation in the second half. However, it all went very wrong in the final 90 seconds of the half. A break by Cusiter resulted in Wigglesworth being sent to the sin bin (just as Burger returned). The penalty was 30 metres out, about 15 metres from the right attacking touchline. If Saracens had been given a similar opportunity, I suspect they would have elected to take the 3 points on offer. But Sale are confident in their line out and what it can achieve. Kick to the corner, catch, drive, try for Mills. Cipriani added the conversion with an excellent kick from near the touchline and a very poor half from Saracens perspective ended 14-3 to the hosts.

The second half largely developed into a pattern of, ‘Saracens can have the ball and we’ll just defend’. It was a very simple game plan, but based on what had transpired in the first half, was always likely to succeed comfortably. In Braid, Seymour and Beaumont, Sale had an industrious and disruptive back row who were always ahead of the efforts of Wray, Burger & Joubert. This is perhaps no surprise and things only improved once Hankin had replaced Joubert. Basically, the starting three (well two of them) were no match for the pace and energy of their Sale counterparts. The late introduction of Tompkins gave some sort of running threat in the backs, but it was still far too lateral. A situation epitomised by Wyles throwing a pass fully 5 metres behind Ashton. Ashton does have a habit of playing very flat, but this is so that he can take the ball and beat the defender. He probably needs to make a slight adjustment, but so do the inside runners who must look to run forward rather than drift across field.

Goode saw an early penalty attempt drop just under cross bar from near halfway, but it was surely a situation that demanded a kick to the corner and lineout. Too many players seemed to be just going through the motions. Mako carried well, but without the real power we would expect. I was left with a feeling that he was making sure he could get 60 minutes of rugby into his legs without taking too many risks. The two players who, in my humble opinion, really stood up to the task were Wray and Itoje. They constantly made themselves available to carry the ball, something Wray did with increasing effect, and neither took a backward step. Itoje was once again excellent in the lineout – until we reached the Sale 5 metre line. Each time we got close, Nathan Hines rose to steal the ball!

The only bright spot of an otherwise pointless (in all senses) second half came right at the end. Cueto was adjudged to have deliberately knocked on as Saracens attacked down their right wing. A harsh call in my opinion, and certainly not deserving of the yellow card that accompanied the decision. That said, if that’s how the referee saw it, then there was also a strong claim for a penalty try, with Ashton facing a pretty straight forward run to the line had the ball reached him. It took a couple of lineouts and a scrum but Barrington managed to force his way over the line to salvage an unlikely bonus point. My Sale colleagues much closer to the action than me raised questions regarding the legitimacy of the grounding; for balance they also suggested that Cipriani’s pass for the first try was possibly forward. The TMO finally gave the decision in Saracens favour and Goode’s very quickly taken conversion meant there was time for one more play with four points separating the sides.

Once again, Saracens lack of game management let them down. Cipriani knew he needed to get the ball off the field if he could, but that it must bounce into touch. The fact that he was able to drill the ball just beyond the 10 metre line and into touch without any Saracens player near the ball speaks volumes for the lack of thinking within the team. It was also a very good piece of skill from a man who is not renowned for thinking clearly all of the time. (As I’m replaying the last kick in my head, I do wonder now if it bounced just before the 10 metre line – probably not though!)

All in all, a very disappointing performance from Saracens, and a very professional job, well done, by Sale; they were deserved victors on the day. Finally, a quick line to say thank you to the Sale fans for their usual engaging company – particularly, Andy, Jason, Jimmy and Tim, see you next season guys! Oh, and to those Sale rugby league converts, Wigan is NOT the font of all evil and Ashton is not the devil incarnate!

SALE SHARKS: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Will Addison, 13 Johnny Leota, 12 Sam Tuitupou, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Chris Cusiter; 1 Eifion Lewis Roberts, 2 Marc Jones, 3 Vadim Cobilas, 4 Jonathan Mills, 5 Nathan Hines, 6 Dan Braid©, 7 David Seymour, 8 Josh Beaumont.
REPLACEMENTS: 16 Tommy Taylor, 17 Alberto de Marchi, 18 Ross Harrison, 19 Magnus Lund,

20 Mark Easter, 21 Will Cliff, 22 Joe Ford, 23 Tom Arscott

SARACENS: 15 Chris Wyles, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 David Strettle,
10 Alex Goode, 9 Richard Wigglesworth; 1 Mako Vunipola, 2 Jamie George, 3 Petrus du Plessis
4 Maro Itoje, 5 Alistair Hargreaves©, 6 Ernst Joubert, 7 Jacques Burger, 8 Jackson Wray
REPLACEMENTS: 16 Brett Sharman, 17 Richard Barrington, 18 Juan Figallo, 19 Hayden Smith
20 Matt Hankin, 21 Neil de Kock, 22 Nick Tompkins, 23 Nils Mordt

Referee: Dean Richards

Attendance: 6,217