Gloucester 44-8 Sale Sharks
By MHIAS
September 8 2002
Henry Paul scored the first try in his best game for Gloucester, as the Cherry-and-Whites came back from a weak first half to destroy the Sharks (from Sale). Thinus Delport also scored, and a good performance from the team was rewarded with a 44-8 final score.
A pretty good attendance of 9,500 were not looking too happy as rain poured over Kingsholm, but it cleared up as the match started. The faces of the thousands also turned sour when Sale instantly put points on the board. It was Mark Cueto who was on the end of a clever flowing Sale attack, who scored in the corner. Charlie Hodgson, who went on to have a bad day with the boot, failed to convert.
A terrible decision by the touch judge who "forgot" to notice that a Sale player with the ball was a metre in touch, ended up with a penalty (for some reason) being rewarded to the Sharks. Charlie Hodgson tried to put the booing and banging to the back of his mind, but embarrasingly kicked the ball towards the corner of the pitch. Ludo made no mistake with a chance of his own though, and brought Gloucester back to within 2 points. Another penalty from each kicker kept both teams close together coming up to half time.
The rest of the first half was pretty scrappy, with both teams fighting hard to break the deadlock. It was Gloucester who were attacking the stronger though, and after a long period of pressure, Henry Paul scrambled the ball over the line deep in to injury time, to finish the onslaught that he brilliantly started.
The second half was a totally different story. Clive Woodward, who was sitting in the stands, could only be impressed by the way Gloucester came out. James Forrester was aware as always, and scored the first of 3 tries in 10 minutes. he took up the role of winger and sprinted in to the corner to stretch the lead. Just moments later, after Ludo had missed the conversion, Forrester again broke away. This time he chose to stop when faced with the task of taking on Jason Robinson, and released the ball to Henry Paul. The ball was spread wide, and Tom Beim finished of the move, to summon Sale to a destructive defeat.
Before the match Dean Ryan told the press that we must be carefull not to kick down Jason Robinson's throat. This may have been a clever bluff, as a lot of Ludo's kicks did just that. Robinson though, just kicked the ball directly in to touch almost every time, setting up a Gloucester attack.
In the first half, a bonus point looked unlikely. But the special fourth try did come, as Thinus Delport rampaged down the wing to score his first premiership try. By this time Sale had nothing left to offer, and despite a desperate 3 substitutions, they still looked too tired to compete.
It was Jake Boer, a nomination for man of the match, who scored the next try, to cries of "we want 50". He barged over the line and Mercier converted. Forrester finished of the scoring as he cleverly fiddled his way over the line, with Mercier again adding the 2. Another magic moment in the match was towards the end, when Marcel Garvey had come on in place of Thinus Delport. He flew down the wing with his special sidesteps, and floored Jason Robinson with a massive hand off. Definitely not a happy day for the England full back.
I still think that Delport at full back with Henry Paul at centre would be a better combination, as this seems to be the area that he is at his most dangerous. This would also leave the wing places open, for Garvey, Simpson-Daniel, Beim and Daren O'Leary, who is yet to feature this season.