London Irish win at Sale with a late Barry Everitt kick.

5-0 (3 mins) Irish start the match brightly, bashing the game line and being quick to the breakdown. Over eagerness, or sheer dumb ass incompetence gives away a penalty for crossing and Hodgson gets Sale out of their 22 and up the park.

Worst moment of the Match.

Try in left corner to Sale No2, following 10(CH) kick from half way to edge of LI 22, challenge by 6(Jason White) on Armitage, spilled backwards, White gathers and breaks 10 metres, draws Horak and feeds 2 who scores. Looks simple and ominous, 3 minutes in to the game.

Program teamsheet is not correct, 2 is not Titterell AFAIK. Titts comes on as sub later. I know we had the teamsheets on-line beforehand, so lack of prep on my part.

7-0 (3 mins) Conversion well taken by Charlie Hodgson. Not an easy one from wide left, 2 metres in from left touch. His first kick but there is no wind or rain, perfect silence, no camera flashes.

7-3 (7 mins) Good break by Kennedy, Sale go OTT at midfield breakdown and are penalised. No complaints. You can see the Stockport County markings and the ball is on the edge of the centre circle, so 45m out and central. Nice one Barry, a confident thump to match Charlies’

7-3 (10mins) Barry misses a tricky penalty from the touchline

7-6 (15)  Irish pressure the kicker and Sale put it out on the full leading to loss of territory. Good Irish attack. Another penalty for Sale going over the top, this one a bit easier, flashbulb behind the goal. Barry must have some local fans, keen for his photo.

7-6 (20) Sale having made a few yards from the backs and good drives from CJ and Sea-Bass (thanx anon. Sale fan that’s Chris Jones and Sebastian Chabal) then reach the Irish 22 with the crowd making a din only to drop a pass. It was a beaut as well, the inside ball which Wasps ‘done’ us with, and Quins A seem to use to great effect. I think he’d have been in if he’d caught it. From the scrum solid scrum Sale flankers charge like exocets and Barry slices his clearance from under our posts. Sale lineout from 10m goes long and the set up the rolling maul, but its penalised under our posts and we clear to 35 m and its our lineout. Please can we play in their half I’m getting a crick in my neck.

7-6 (27) Our scrum on the far side and a blindside move gets Delon a run down the wing. Enthusiasm overcomes me and I’m leaping up and down shouting ‘Try’ oblivious to the fact that the swine of linesman indicates he’s put a foot or two in touch. Are the lines on that far side straight of do they wiggle in and out ? It looked a perfectly good try to me from 80yds away, the linesman must surely be mistaken.

10-6 (30) Very offside Irish give away a penalty in front, gratefully kicked in a respectful silence. Nice.

10-11 (33 minutes) Best moment of the Match.

Delon try in the corner. Ball gets wide to Delon just inside Sale half on the right wing, just in front of me in fact, and the visitors roar. There are more of us than I thought or the score of us in the stand are just baying for the benefit of the radio fans. Speed takes him into the 22 but the corner is covered. Jason Robinson the full back, World Cup winner gawd bless him, Sale captain and another bloke, possibly Steve Hanley converge on Delon and tackle him. But no, how did he do that, Hanley and Robinson are left on the deck, clasping each other like Rodins’ Kiss. Armitage must have re-arranged the atoms in his body and become a non solid object. A will o the wisp. He’s momentarily defied the laws of physics and then places the ball over the line. Try !!. Another one for Delon, Saracens on Sunday, Harlequins on Monday, Sale on Friday and they are getting better. Consider the Leicester match and his being stopped a metre short in the first half, left corner after Scotty gave him the pass. He backed himself to score and was livid with himself for not breaking through the hardest yard. Since then his work is paying off in tries.It really is the finest feeling for a family oriented club that one of our own has made such an impact at the highest level. He’s been playing for Irish half his life and he’s only 20. The tries are getting better and you can show me the Sale one again please. There is scoring and finishing, this was a joy. I did a gratuitous amount of flag waving which amused the REAL journalists just to my left.

Gary Gold, Conor O’Shea and Paul Hull were a couple of seats in front of me, they were quietly pleased ! Still a long way to go, I suppose. It’s interesting seeing their different reactions, PH is definitely the cool one. GG explodes with angry noise occaisionally, but its Conor who shows open involvement. Conor is back, forward and playing most of the game with them. It would be interesting to see them wired up to heart rate stress monitors. But I digress, back to the game.

10-11 (34) Conversion attempt about 8 metres in from the right touchline. Barry misses just to the right but had plenty of boot.

 10-11 (Half Time)  Sale finish the half attacking strongly but then another handling error, a spilled pass, the Irish get the ball but kick ahead out on the full, back for first offence. Its another messy scrum with Barry employing the tactic of hoisting it high for Delon to chase, challenging Robinson. Happens a few times in the match with JR winning all but one.

10-11 (42)  Bob is magnificent in the line out again, it almost goes without saying, but this is a good Sale lineout. They are jumping almost like a Mexican wave, very complex, it should be set to music and shown in slow motion. In the loose Nick Kennedy is unlucky to be penalised for holding on. ( Or the incompetent fool gets isolated, depends if you’re a half empty person, but you tell him not me ok ?.)

10-11 (48mins) At last, after both sets of forwards bashing away at each other since Delons try, a glimmer of niggle appears. All in all this was not the indisciplined matches of last year. No yellow cards or need for them, in fact Sale fans only shouted Off Off once. A misunderstanding occurred between CJ and Bob. Chris Jones wanted to take Bobs shorts off and Bob mistook CJ for a matt and cleaned his boots on him. But it was momentary, and both players took it no further. Good discipline shown by both sides I thought, there is generally enough physical contact in the legitimate game without resorting to freestyle extras. From the resulting attack Sale turnover the ball in an Irish attack and kick ahead. Horak does well to clear and with space.

Substitution: 17 Titterel on for 7 Lund

10-11 (52mins) Barry misses drop goal, worth a shot in a tight game. We’re been knocking on the door but its good Sale defence. Irish attack again inside the Sale half, knocked down out wide by Sale. When the backs attack they seem to be held, no breaks, yet Sale make yards. Whatever.

10-14 (57)   Sustained Irish attacking on Sale 22 catches them offside, advantage played, Barry drop attempt misses. Penalty stands. Noisy Sale can’t stop the kick. Animated scoreboard spurs on the home fans, probably works a treat for the Stockport County fans too.

Subs : Sale 20 on for 9

Strudwick replaces Kennedy. I like Kennedy, and the contrasting headgear with Casey lets you know who is doing the mugging, so to speak.

10-14 (62) Irish penalised, probably offside, probably tactical.

Charlie Hodgson prepares for penalty in silence after a bit of shushing from their own. Misses, just pushed wide by a couple of metres. It wasn’t easy but it’s a suprising miss all the same.

10-14 (64) Penalty to Irish in the line out, pulling down.

Subs; Sale 22 for 13 Chris Rhys Jones who was born in St Helens and has played for England U-19. I suppose there is a Digby Fortesque Smythe playing for Wales on an exchange program….

Big kick ahead by Sale rolls slowly to the Irish dead ball line marshalled by Horak. Conor O’Shea helps the ref and the stands crowd by advising “ON THE LINE IS GONE, SCRUM BACK” and soon the world agrees with him, there can be no higher authority.

The resulting Irish scrum is wheeled and Sale kick inside the Irish 22. Our line out. Did I tell you how noisy it is? A very tense atmosphere, this is what you want, an urgency uniting the crowd.

13-14 (70) Cueto makes a great break and it helps the home crowd to new volumes, they bring it left and right searching for a gap just retaining possession, 7 phases. Then we’re offside, or something equally minor and technical. I’ve lost all objectivity now. The noise dies down as the shushing reminds me I’m in church when Sale kick. Hodgson looks very solid as a place kicker and has no problems with this one, the crowd roars its approval. As I ponder upon how many minutes are left, the possible outcome…. The attendance is announced as 8,200 souls, a man in a Shark costume and probably a halibut, but wait…. It aint over yet, there’s still more drama to come than a hairdressers night out…

13-14 (75)  Barry is still on, surely this is way past his bedtime ? No sub for Baz and he attacks with a tactical box kick for Delon to chase. Finally Delon catches one rather than just inducing a clearance. Sale snaffle it back from their 22 and kick it up the line. Controversial moment. You remember that wiggly waggly touchline I told you about ? Guess what, Murphy I think catches it outside the line, takes the quick throw but its called back. The linesman, our friend from earlier, says we took it out and awards the throw to Sale. Travesty. I have zero objectivity now.

Before Sale can take the throw on the Irish 22 a very tired looking Rob Hardwick is replaced by a bouncy Pierre Durant.

13-14 (77) Good line out ball for Sale and they gather it for a maul, big shove, appears held then they burst through. Its hard to write this and not swear. I’ll have to substitute the word ‘Fish’.

Anyway the maul has sucked in the Irish defence, they have acres of space and here they come, you fear the worst. Its try time to them surely. Its like 4 against 4 or 3 but you can drive a bus through but everybody gets a man, we rush up, good and they throw a basket ball pass over the top. Justin Bishop pulls it out of the air, jinks sideways and makes a stunning 20 yard break into midfield. Yippee, danger over, ruck forms, ref blows whistle, and delight turns to disbelief.

The incompetent blind Fish of a ref has given a penalty against Bishop for holding on.

An Episcopal poor decision.

16-14 (80minutes) Not an easy kick, yes its out front, but its over 40 metres out. About the same as Barrys’ first successful penalty, just outside centre circle. Takes nerve and it goes over. And the crowd goes wild, well some of them, in fact most of them. One thing about Hodgson is that he has a positive kicking style. Doesn’t hang about and gives it a good thump, impressive. The score board clock counts down 10 seconds then holds at 00:00

Like all those sci-fi movies you see where time stands still, you enter the Twilight Zone. Everytime you look at the scoreboard it says 16-14 and the time 00:00

Without a frame of reference time runs like treacle or quicksilver – just depends if you’re winning.  No seconds, just your own heartbeat measuring the anxiety.

16-17 (80+ minutes)  Kick off and total Irish pressure in an amazing cauldron of noise. Plan A is obvious, it worked last year. Get Barry into field goal range. Staniforth makes a break, but its halted in the 22, Sale are wise to the Barry ploy and charge down a kick which we retrieve. Seconds later another drop kick is touched in flight by Sale  and caught by Irish. Howls of foul play from Sale and the ref does indeed blow for some infringement. But wait, the angle of his arm, does this mean a Penalty to Irish ?  Hand in the ruck I’d imagine but I can’t honestly say I know what it was given for. Probably balance for the harsh decision against Bishop.

In the universe that the ref came from two wrongs do make a right.

Or perhaps it’s given just for a sense of the dramatic.

The howls of anger, hurt and pain reached a cacophony as Barry did his best to make the kick look difficult and we were in the lead again.

And then the final whistle went….

SALE SHARKS 16  LONDON IRISH 17

During the ensuing cheering and joyous flag waving the players and officials left the pitch to a few boos. Then our squad returned to salute the Shotton paper stand travelling fans. Quite right too. Tight drumming throughout, lusty rendition of ‘The Fields’ more balloons than I’ve seen before. Well done the team and the fans.