By Elayna Towell
Sale secured a home win against strong Gloucester side In a pulsating match, Sale Sharks showed a strong display of force against Gloucester Rugby, despite key players missing from the squad.
While England fly-half George Ford was absent due to injury, Rob du Preez stepped up to convert three of five tries.
Gloucester challenged Sale until the final whistle in a nine try thriller at the Salford Community Stadium.
Although the visitors came back with a final flurry which saw them cross for two tries, Sale manged to maintain the lead, winning 31-27. Gloucester won the race to the scoreboard in just 7 minutes with Tomos Williams captaining his side to an early lead.
An offload by Jack Clement saw George Barton race down the right wing and pass to Williams who rounded one defender and crossed the try line.
Sale fought back against this home invasion with a quick movement of the ball across to the right wing, where Tom Roebuck slid over the try line, evening the scoreboard. It wasn’t even for long though as Du Preez’s conversion sent Sale into the lead.
Gloucester’s Charlie Atkinson replaced Christian Wade who left the pitch with an injury, clutching his left side whilst walking off. Sale extended their lead with a Gus Warr try below the sticks, assisted by Roebuck who fought through a sea of defenders and passed the ball.
Du Preez again boosted his team with a conversion. The final minutes of the first half saw Sale’s Will Addison replace Waisea Nayacalevu and ended on a positive for Gloucester as Barton scored a three-points penalty kick.
Half-time score Sale 14 – 8 Gloucester
Gloucester’s half-time interchange saw Ciaran Knight replace Val Rapava Ruskin. Sale scored first in the second half as Roebuck crossed the line again. This followed an incredible show of pace by Arron Reed, who ran through a maze of defenders before offloading.
Gloucester made a double substitution replacing Seb Bake and Jack Singleton and Harry Taylor with Ruan Ackermann. Sale soon followed, replacing Asher Opoku-Fordjour and Rouban Birch with James Harper and Le Roux Roets.
Gloucester’s Williams scored his second try after a spectacular run down the field, racing Sale defenders until the last moment, and Barton’s conversion reduced Sale’s lead to four points. Gloucester’s second double substitution saw Matias Alemanno and Albert Tuisue replace Seb Atkinson and Jack Clement.
The stadium was soon flooded with cheers from home fans as Sale scored an incredible try from a line-out 15m out, fighting to push the ball over the line with Luke Cowan-Dickie grounding the ball. Cowan-Dickie scored his second try only eight minutes later in the left corner which was converted by Du Preez.
Sale’s Tumy Onasanya replaced Simon McIntyre as the loosehead prop walked off with an applause from his fans. In the 74th minute, Gloucester’s Caolan Englefield replaced Tomos Williams and almost immediately brought his side back into the game with a try.
However, the try wasn’t converted as Barton’s kick went wide. Sale made the final substitution of the match as Tom Burrow replaced Josh Beaumont.
The final minutes saw Sale’s Joe Carpenter handed a yellow card for slowing-down play, which was followed by a Gloucester try from Max Llewellyn and conversion by Barton. These last-minute displays of perseverance weren’t enough for the away side as Sale retained the lead.
SALE SHARKS: 31
TRIES: 5 (Roebuck 18’, 48’, Warr 36’, Cowan-Dickie 63’, 71’)
CONVERSIONS: 3 (Du Preez 18’, 36’, 71’)
PENALITIES: 0
DROP GOALS: 0
YELLOW CARDS: 1 (Carpenter
RED CARDS: 0
15. Joe Carpenter 14. Tom Roebuck 13. Will Addison 12. Sam Bedlow 11. Arron Reed 10. Rob du Preez (C) 9. Gus Warr 1. Simon McIntyre 2. Luke Cowan-Dickie 3. Asher Opoku-Fordjour 4. Ben Bamber 5. Josh Beaumont 6. Ernst van Rhyn 7. Sam Dugdale 8. Rouban Birch
Replacements
16. Ethan Caine 17. Tumy Onasanya 18. James Harper 19. Tom Burrow 20. Le Roux Roets 21. Nye Thomas 22. Tom Curtis 23. Waisea Nayacalevu
GLOUCESTER RUGBY: 27
TRIES: 4 (Williams 7’, 57’, Englefield 74’, Llewellyn 79’)
CONVERSIONS: 2 (Barton 57’, 79’)
PENALITIES: 1 (Barton 40’)
DROP GOALS: 0
YELLOW CARDS: 0
RED CARDS: 0
15. George Barton 14. Christian Wade 13. Chris Harris 12. Seb Atkinson 11. Max Llewellyn 10. Gareth Anscombe 9. Tomos Williams (C) 1. Val Rapava Ruskin 2. Seb Blake 3. Afolabi Fasogbon 4. Freddie Clarke 5. Arthur Clark 6. Jack Clement 7. Harry Taylor 8. Zach Mercer
Replacements: 16. Jack Singleton 17. Mayco Vivas 18. Ciaran Knight 19. Matias Alemanno 20. Ruan Ackermann 21. Albert Tuisue 22. Caolan Englefield 23. Charlie Atkinson