Our tale began on Wednesday morning as we set off for the airport with the game still 3 days away. We were surely the advance guard of a fairly small band of travellers to Padua. Not the Heinie Cup, agin a small Italian side whom we were expected to beat, hotel prices in Padua – we were never going to attract a huge following for this one.

Bowling along the dual carriageway en route Yoko Ono airport, we came up on a car with a big Sharks logo in the rear window. As we passed it we recognised, Joe, Ginnie and Rosie. With the recognition came the familiar surge of anticipation that has accompanied the trips across Europe for the past several years. Sale supporters jetting off to another small rugby town to cheer our boys on in European action!

Two other groups of supporters were seen at the airport, and we felt among friends. Chatting to our newly-proclaimed editor Journo Joe, it transpired that he had a number of of projects underway for Padua, and the expected report for the message board had merely added to those. I hesitantly (well he has got a journo degree) suggested that I might ease his burden by writing a report for the board. Whoever suggested Joe for editor had obviously recognised his ability for instant assessment of a situation followed by the immediate required action. Never mind my hand, my arm was bitten off, which is why dear reader, you are looking at my prose rather than Joe's. If you prefer his, discerning reader, then you'll have to wait until the Messenger's out!

Following the usual jaunt to Venice on the Friday (beautiful day, sun shining, we went to Murano, where unusually my better half seemed reluctant to part with the shekels), Saturday dawned dry, clear and cool, although with cloud streamers appearing from the west. By mid-morning it was overcast, and the temperature declining. Stadio Plebiscito was a replica of those public stadiums beloved by French town rugby teams. Holding 9,000 it had a fairly steep tribune either side, with open ends. Plenty of space around for development of facilities and jacking the capacity to 20K – what would BK give for that. The major problem was that the seating was made of concrete (Earringshark said marble) – either way, it was a bum-freezer.

Carrera Petrarca Padua would have been somewhat disappointed by the Sale team, expecting as they were Sheriden, Bruno, Corcho, Seabass, Charlie and Elvis, not to mention little Luke (seen retreating into a large (and warm!) tracksuit in the dugout). They had to make do with Big Tam, Nacho, Lamont and Cueto from our world cup players, with a cameo from the bench by Lawson. Charlie was on the bench, but only put in an appearance at a post-match training session with the masochistic Zorba, to friendly jeers (Good game, Charlie!) from the Sale fans remaining. Sheri was seen sharing the dugout with the great one. The local press was non too encouraging either, labelling Padua's task as “impossible”.

Following the run-on, the forwards were taken over the far side from us, led by Schoey and Nacho, to receive the kick-off from Petrarca, who were wearing black shirts with white trim. The kick-off went deep and was gathered by Cueto who ran it back to the 10m line. Petrarca gave away the first penalty for offside and Lee Thomas cleared to the opposition 22. Schoey took the throw and Nacho broke clear, the ball taken on by Turner and Faure, but the ball spilled forward. And there in a nutshell was the Sale game plan. Acquire possession and run the ball, close and wide, looking for the gaps. To be entirely successful, the plan would also have demanded precision in passing, care in reception of and preservation of, possession. H'm.

Petrarca seemingly had most of their stars injured, Nicky Little still out, as was Ludo Mercier, Manual Dallan, Stuart Grimes and the Fijian Koyamaibole. But the team had held up well against Bayonne away, so should have been able to present strong opposition in front of their home crowd, (estimated at 3000, including 500 travelling Salesmen – more like 300 we reckoned). The two locks, Davis and Cavallieri put themselves about to good effect, as did No 8 Padro, but in many areas they were really on their own. Giacomo Preo, the stand-in flyhalf, was the pick of their backs. Petrarca's initial fire set the visitors somewhat on their heels, as Padua put together a five-minute attacking spell. Sale were penalised for “in at the side” and Preo missed a golden opportunity to open the scoring.

It took only a minute for the ref to equalise things by penalising Petrarca for the same offence, and Lee Thomas slotted one from midfield on 10 minutes while Martens changed his boots (don't ask). Following a scrum to Sale, Padua cleared, and Lamont took time to get his kicking leg into gear. He was charged down, and we were treated to the sight of Laharrague flinging out a wild pass under severe pressure and miles away from any likely recipient. We were lucky to get away with a defensive scrum some 7 metres out. Sanity returned, the scrum applied pressure, forced a win against the head, and a penalty from Petrarca for standing up. Laharrague featured again shortly thereafter when he was caught in possession following an up and under, that tactic revitalised by the World Cup.

A deep kick by Larry brought a lineout on the right on Padua's 10 metre. Nacho took the lineout, Lilo passed under severe pressure and Lee Thomas picked it up off his toes. From this unpromising beginning, Thomas's wide sling found Mayor, who applied the gas, and a shorter pass to Quates, for him to canter through a gap in the defensive line, and over and round half way to the posts for the first try. Thomas converted, and within a couple of minutes was kicking to Cueto hiding wide out looking for his second. The ref however pulled it back for offside. Another kick, this time an up and under, found the Petrarcan No 14 (Lopez Gonzalez) wanting, and the ball was turned over, setting up the position for the next try on 27 minutes. Thomas kicked to the corner, Briggs found his man, the drive came on with the pack tightly focussed and Lionel claimed the try. Thomas missed the kick from well out on the left.

The attacks on Petrarca kept coming. Laharrague chipped and chased twice in one move, pressuring the unfortunate Lopez Gonzalez into grounding in goal. At the resulting scrum, Turner (with the usual shaking head) was pinged for turning in, and Petrarca cleared their lines. Petrarca in turn were penalised for coming off the back of a scrum too early and Lee Thomas put Sale back to the edge of the red zone. A Cueto kick through on 35 minutes was chased by Larry and Lamont, and Padua's Argentinian wing must have felt bullied. He fumbled the ball over the line and Lamont pounced, but from wide on the right Thomas missed the conversion.

Padua did not give up and attacked down their left aside, stopped only 5 metres from Sale's goal line by the donation of a penalty. The ball was kicked away unpenalised, but the Italian side's No 12 Leaega ran it back to the penalty position, tapped it to himself and forced his way over the line for Petrarca's first score. Preo converted. The half was seemingly up, but the ref found two more minutes. From within our own half, Laharrague, then Nacho, and then Cueto made ground, before a kick was put through. Jason White following up drove over low to score, and Thomas converted.

The half time score was therefore 27-7. Sale had many more opportunities then have been described, but poor passing, and imprecise handling hindered them badly, disrupting rhythm. Nacho had sensed this because he brought his presence to every phase of the game in an effort to energise the team and to provide a steady hand for them, clearing rucks, making ground (no wonder he played eighth man for Castres), open-field tackling, lineouts (particularly when ours was under pressure). Ears were no doubt bashed at half time. Kingsley can't have been happy with the try that was let in, particularly as all the spectators could see it coming, but the defence did not. And PSA & Jos will have been disappointed at the lack of precision – the game plan was working, Sale players were running into open space, but too many scrambled passes, too many attempted snatched receptions, too many careless knocks-on were hampering the free-flowing game that Sale were after. Still the objective had been achieved, bonus point in the bag. Would we shut up shop now and ensure the win?

The unfortunate Lopez Gonzalez gave way to Innocenti and Eifion replaced Stu Turner at half time (and at tight head). The Fridge was immediately involved carrying the ball – but spilled it. Petrarca decided that their front row had taken a sufficient battering and replaced their 1 & 2. Schoey nearly scored – but knocked on. It looked like the game plan was still in place, but unfortunately it was still being accompanied by the same mistakes. Tait came on to replace Hills after 47 minutes just after Padua completed a full change in their front row. At a scrum on the Petrarca 10 metre line a penalty was given to the Italian side and after a quick take No 21 shot through a gap like a startled marmot as Sale defenders hung off the tackle having not yet retreated ten metres. The ball was moved right and Preo chipped through, chased it up, waited for the bounce and scored. He subsequently converted, bringing Petrarca up to 14-27. Sale were proving vulnerable to quickly-taken penalties, certainly a point to work on.

Four minutes later Petrarca had the chance to close the gap further, when a Sale forward was penalised for not rolling away. Preo missed it, to a sigh of relief from this observer, as Day replaced Schofield. Sale, sensing the Italians would begin a fightback, moved upfield. A handling movement by the forwards put Lamont in for a try, Thomas located his Tomtom and converted and Laharrague was subbed by Ripol (59 minutes). This moved Sale away to 34-14, and any thoughts of a Paduan recovery were scotched. They tried though, picking up a freekick for too many in the line, and then a “not straight”. A high tackle by Quates led to a penalty under the posts. Petrarca opted for the scrum, and Nacho just held up the drive for the line. Petrarca went left, and then were held up on the right. Padua got the scrum, but Faure did his stuff, and Sale swung it through 180 for the put-in. Thomas' boot came in handy again.

Nacho was still trying to inject some continuity into Sale's play, but too many mistakes by Sharks let him down, players having to turn back to clean up passes behind the intended recipients, or just plain wild. On 75 minutes the ball was moved wide by a Sale attack, a simple one-out ball from the ruck allowed Day to canter through to take advantage of Padua's tired defensive efforts. Thomas converted and Scott Lawson came on to replace Briggs' sterling effort. And Nacho's crown slipped as he was pinged for holding on (what, Nacho, ref?). At the 80 minute mark the ball was moved wide left again and Lawson delivered the scoring pass to Tait in space and he trotted round towards the posts. LT booted it home.

Ben Foden came on for Lilo, who had been carrying a knock for some ten minutes. Lawson nicked a ball he'd no right to from a ruck, and Thomas kicked to the corner. The ball was moved right quickly and Lamont fed Frank for a score in the right corner. I expect a number of his tries will now remind us of his effort in the RWC final, and this one was no different, with boots waving above the white line. Nevertheless a good score, but Thomas was misdirected by his less than infallible Tomtom.

Final Score was 14-53 to Sale, eight tries guaranteeing us a bonus point. Don't get your correspondent wrong, I enjoyed the match, and Sale had achieved what they set out to do. We're in an excellent position in the pool, and I'm sure the Bayonne away game will decide the destination of qualification from it. The game plan showed ambition, however, there was a lack of accuracy particularly in handling, mistakes that would have been pounced on and punished in the pressure cooker of the GP or HC. And a defence that leaked two tries from tapped penalties by a team that showed little else would again be severely punished in stronger competitions. Man of the Match. Every supporter I spoke to out there agreed with the choice of Nacho. Jason White was named captain of the club this week, but Nacho's leadership and performance was outstanding. Roll on Bayonne!

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon

Related Articles:

• Sale v Montpellier preview

SPORTNETWORK SPECIALS

• Think you know your sport? Click here to try the Sportnetwork Prize Quizzes