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Sale Sharks 39 London Irish 14
LV= Cup
Friday night - Bonfire night, and the sparks were flying at Edgeley Park, Stockport, when Sale Sharks met London Irish in the LV Cup.
A narrow bonus point opportunity for Sale went begging the last time these sides met, only six days previously. An opportunity then, for revenge, and with twelve changes to the starting line-up, Sharks went for the visitors from the off. Sale managed to see off the Londoners with a first half display of blistering running and solid defensive work.
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| View from the back row of the press box at Edgeley Park. |
Straight from the start, the early intentions of Sale was to put points on the board; the first of the match was from the boot of fly half Rob Miller from five metres inside his own half after three minutes. Following that, the first try of the match followed soon after, with Tom Brady evading his opponents with clever footwork, before touching down on the left wing. The conversion from the touchline was kicked wide of the near post by full back Paul Williams. Brady left the field afterwards, replaced by debutant Ian Thornley on the wing.
As for the visitors, London Irish were left resorting to kicking the ball for position, as they were struggling to get past the gain line. A wet pitch from the day’s rainfall, had left the ball slippery, and this was evident with handling errors on both sides. Marland Yarde, for the visitors, was culpable with a missed opportunity on half way, losing possession to Sale.
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The home side were always looking for more point scoring opportunities, and Miller tried to add to the tally with a second penalty kick from inside his half, this time falling just short of the posts. Running at pace into the Irish line paid off halfway into the period, with Fergus Mulchrone putting down after getting the ball from Williams, who side stepped his opposite number brilliantly. Williams converted the try.
It took a full 25 minutes for London Irish to take their first scoring attempt – Chris Malone hit the post with his penalty attempt, before Darren Allison was through for a try, before being called back for picking up his own knock on.
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This period of the half saw Irish put some pressure on the Sale line, with Chris Brightwell in particular hitting the carriers well, and then taking the ball deep into the visiting half, getting the ball out wide to Mulchrone for the third try of the match on the overlap. Williams converted once more.
Just on half time, debutant Thornley scored; the ball being kept in several phases on the try line before being taken out left to the winger for a converted score, to take the Sharks in 25-0 at half time.
The second half saw a renewed effort from Irish, putting Sale on the backfoot for the early period. Again, solid defending saw off the threat; Asaeli Boko saving a certain score by Alex Corbisiero by putting him into touch at the very last. London’s attempts to pass out wide were pounced upon with an audacious interception by Rhys Crane, who took the ball on the wing in his half, and got under the posts to have put the match beyond the visitors. Miller converted.
As if the game wasn’t over as a contest by that point, Chris Leck scored for the Sharks last try of the match on 70 minutes, after great running by Lee Imiolek. Miller converted for Sale’s last points of the match.
With confidence running through the home side, passing out wide saw them found out by Yarde, who took his chance with an interception, his score converted by Chris Malone. With only fourteen players on the pitch at the last, due to late replacement Karena Wihongi being sin binned, the visitors got their second try of the game, with Chris Hala’ufia carrying from a ruck on the line after some sustained pressure. Malone again converted, for a final score of 39-14.
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