A report that nearly couldn’t be written

On the way to Sale (having only left Sunbury at 3.15pm), with the Sat Nav coming up with 50 minutes delays and getting stuck behind a learner driver, I was imagining this being a ‘write your own’ match report.

As it was, we arrived only 5 minutes after kick-off, but in the light of the result, if you would prefer a ‘write your own’ version, just fill in the blanks below. “Sale were dominant/lucky and Irish did not play at their best/were unlucky/rested a lot of players. Man of the match for Irish was player… (insert a number from 1-23). The referee was very fair/influenced by the crowd/gave Irish the rub of the green.”

As we arrived it was 3-0 to Sale and we made our way down to the other 15 or so Irish supporters near us (there were a few more across the pitch but I don’t think we made up many of the 5601 supporters there). As we got to our seats, Sale scored in the corner from a cross field kick, with the scorer Tom Brady appearing to be injured in the process and replaced by Iain Thornley. The conversion was missed. As play continued, Elvis tried a kick to touch (he must have been practising as it went well – certainly better than his attempt against Ospreys) When Sale get a penalty from a scrum on half way, they opt to kick for the posts. Irish cleared but then Sale get a breakaway try, with Fergus Mulchrone scoring under the posts – ‘Nice step’ said DanR43 who was watching the game and the fireworks in the background. Paul Williams got the conversion making it 15-0. Perhaps Irish were distracted by the fireworks too! Irish exerted some pressure and won a penalty, kicked by Chris M, which apparently hit the post (so I was told because I couldn’t see as there was a large pillar just in the way). The pressure was then mainly from Sale but Irish won two penalties in fairly quick succession and Darren would have scored if the referee had not spotted a knock on. I did think that it was quite warm and dry for a game at Sale, even though it was wet under foot. The conditions were not doing us any favours though as Sale made a break through the middle, were tackled by Darren, but got the ball out to the corner for Fergus Mulchrone to score again. JonR43 said that Sale are only 20 ahead and they came back from being 21 points down last week, so maybe Irish could do the same. Unfortunately the task then became harder and Iain Thornley scored, although Irish did try to get the intercept it did not have the same success as last week, and the half time score was 25-0.

The Lucky Grandma arrived at half time, so maybe that is why things improved in the second half. Sale made 2 changes at half time (Chris Leck for Dwayne Peel and Ben Roberts for Mark Jones). Play seemed to be stuck around half way, with our kicks not quite going to plan (at least they didn’t seem to be). % minutes in Alex came on for James T. The next 10 minutes was almost all in their 22. Irish won a couple of penalties, opting for a scrum and then for a kick to touch but each time, a few phases later it did not work out. JonR43 then gave away an intercept try (he had just texted Bisach to say we were doing much better), with Rhys Crane scoring under the posts to give Rob Miller an easy conversion to make the score 32-0.

For the restart, Sale brought Matty James on for Paul Williams, and Irish brought Brian Blaney( a first team debut for him as well as for Guy, Marland, Sam and David Sisi)Alfredo and Kieran Low on for David, Darren and Kieran Roche respectively. Brian never seems to have a number on his shirt in the A league but he was given a numbered shirt for this game. Both sides make breaks and then both teams knock on as things seemed to have evened up. With 20 minutes gone, Guy was taken off with an injury and replaced by Sam, with Elvis going to 12, Marland to 13 and Sam to the wing. Then Steffon was replaced by David Sisi (he looked a big lad). In the next couple of minutes, Sale got back into Irish’s 22 and this time Chris Leck scored with Rob Miller converting to make it 39-0. DanR43 was chatting to the Irish supporter next to him about the last time they had seen a nil in a game and DanR43 remembered a 0-17 at the Stoop (much happier times). There also was that time Irish nilled Bath in the rain at the Rec. It was just that this time the nil was for the wrong team! Paulica replaced Dan M and for Sale, Daniel Hall and Carl Fearns replaced Chris Jones and Chris Brightwell. Irish were pressurising again but Sale made a break, stopped by Marcus and as they recycled the ball on Irish’s 22, somehow (that post was in the way again!) Irish nicked the ball and Marland raced down the wing to score, with Chris M getting the conversion – what a relief Irish were not going to be nilled (39-7 the score). Sale replaced Henry Thomas with Aston Croall. For the next 5 minutes or so Irish were pressurising though not able to score. With about 6 minutes to go, Sale replaced Lee Imiolek with Karena Wihongi, Matt won the line out for Irish and made 3-4 metres before Wihongi conceded a penalty and was yellow carded and Imiolek had to be brought back on for the scrum. I doubt he had even had time to sit down in the 30 seconds or so he had been off! From the scrum ,Marland took the ball and made some inroads into the Sale defence, with Irish getting another scrum and then the forwards were driving forwards and Chris H scored with Chris M converting, making the score 39-14.Although the remaining 3 minutes were played mainly in their half, Sale did get the ball and kicked it out. Game over 39-14. It wasn’t the score I would have chosen if it had been a ‘write your own’ match report but Sale did deserve it on the night.