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Sale 15 Worcester 22
By saleborn33 March 5 2008
Coming off a good, last-minute win against Leicester, Sale should have been full of confidence for the visit of 11th-placed Worcester. Perhaps over-confidence may be a better description, for events on the night didn't go according to plan - not Sale's plan, that is (assuming there was one). Saleborn33 searches the thesaurus for alternatives to the words he wanted to use...

What can you say?  Before the game you thought a win is likely to happen.  The only debate, in my eyes, was whether it was a 4 or 5 point victory to Sale.  Boy; was I wrong!!

 

Just before kick off there was torrential swirling rain.  Would this affect the result?  I think so!  A kick down field by Charlie into some open space and there was a chase; and if it weren't for a wrong bounce of the ball, it'd have been a certain try.  Eventually, it was knocked on.  However everyone around me thought that it was a scrum to Sale, but it was awarded to Worcester.  This was the first of some dodgy decisions by the referee, Wayne Barnes.  From that scrum, Drahm made a superb break (some people could say it was poor tackling) from their twenty two to our twenty two.  A few phases later Drahm made a cross kick and Horstmann easily caught the ball and ran over to score.  Drahm converted easily, to make it 3-7 with just 11 mins gone.  Worcester caught the kick off and from the ruck Powell made a ‘box kick', which was charged down!  My hopes of an immediate comeback faded as the ref gave a penalty to Worcester, saying Cockbain was offside.  With 22 minutes on the clock Sale were awarded a penalty for ‘hands in the ruck', which Charlie slotted over to make it 6-7 to Worcester.  Worcester got the ball and kept it in hand and, to widen the score margin, Drahm went for a drop goal.  He missed.  However, Worcester got a scrum.  From the Printerland Stand, surely it was a 22 drop out to Sale?  But it appears we'd knocked on!  From the resulting scrum Drahm got the drop goal, to make it 6-10 to Worcester.  After this Sale dominated play, with lots of drives and mauls; but could only get a drop goal from Charlie! Score: 9-10.  Worcester got another penalty for the ‘tackler not rolling away', so slowing play down.  It was wind assisted from the half way line; Drahm got it to make it 9-13.  Just before half time Sale were camped on the Wus line and appeared to have scored a try, but the whistle was blown for half time.  The half time debate? "Was it a try?"! For me, you could clearly see the ball on the line.  Also, was it going to get any better?!

 

The second half began with heavy rain still falling.  This wasn't a good sign.  Two minutes into the half and Wus got a penalty, which Drahm slotted over to make it 9-16.  Sale got another penalty 5 minutes later, to make it 12-16.  With 22 minutes left Sale got a penalty for offside.  However, the referee hadn't heard of the word ‘advantage'!!  Charlie slotted it over to make it 15-16 but 2 minutes later, with one of his first touches after coming on, Wigglesworth gave away a stupid penalty for a late tackle and Drahm easily kicked it over.  15-19. It says something that with 7 minutes left the biggest cheer of the match was Mr. Barnes falling over in the mud!  Another peculiar decision gave Wus a penalty, with 6 minutes left.  15-22. That kick for me won the game for Wus.  Sale had a last chance but, surprise surprise, we knock the ball on!!  It summed up the night - full of errors and not taking our chances.

 

Reflecting ... Those around me were trying to think of things to put in this report.  This is what they came up with;  it was more interesting watching things blow across the pitch than the match; the things on the pitch were moving much quicker than Sale; we would rather have stayed at home and watched the rugby league (their handling skills were much better, in the similar conditions!) and it was a ‘tad blustery'.  My Man of the Match: the stewards who kept an eye on the advertisement boards which kept blowing down in the high winds.

 

How awful we were!!  We had so many chances, which we couldn't take.  It was a game Sale lost, rather than Worcester won.  That said, they deserved to win because they took their chances and they kept control of the game.  Usually, I'd say we'll respond in the next game and come fighting back but, with Saracens away followed by Gloucester, it will be very hard.  At the moment, on this form, we have absolutely no chance of a top four spot but, if they buck their ideas up, we could.  Let's hope!!!

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