Santa Stan and all the Happy Little Sale-supporting Elves couldn’t have been more joyful and triumphant over the prettily wrapped four-try bonus point result and we sang with all our hearts in praise.

Sale started off energetically, running the ball and pressing forwards.  From a kick ahead Quins were caught in possession and, as a signal of intent, Charlie opted to punt the penalty into the corner.  The lineout, which stuttered all day, was lost but this was good, front-foot rugby.  Shortly afterwards Sisa, doing his solid carrying and tidying-up work, flipped the ball out from the back of a scrum to Peel.  The ball was moved quickly to the left wing, passing through at least four pairs of hands before coming back to Peel who darted through the bamboozled Quins defence to score just to the left of the posts.  Charlie converted and after seven minutes we were 0 – 7 up.  We could hardly believe such a great start to the game.

There was more to come.  Just three minutes later Lee Thomas found a bit of space in the centre and passed the ball on to Briggsy, who found even more space before putting Nick McLeod through for another converted try.  0 – 14.  What a start.  It’s amazing what keeping the ball in hand can achieve.

Quins started to fight back and when Seymour took a man out in the air, luckily in a way that didn’t call for a yellow card, Nick Evans put the ball to touch.  From the lineout, Will Skinner, the Quins openside, made a clear break.  He was slightly isolated and put a kick through.  Charlie was on hand to tidy up and boot the ball back upfield.  As if to punish him for his temerity, Lee put a big hit on Skinner that left him on the ground needing treatment for some minutes.  Everyone was glad when he got to his feet again.

On 18 minutes, Evans came to life with a moment of individual genius, selling a dummy then chipping forwards.  He gathered his kick and dodged around last-man McLeod to score under the posts, converting his own score.  It had looked rather easy, thanks to some good approach work from an active Quins back row, Nick Easter being particularly prominent.

Again, however, temerity was punished – and all within about 10 seconds of the restart.  Charlie popped kick-off high into the air with the low sun glaring behind it.  Easter struggled to control the ball and was hit hard by Briggsy, clearly thinking he was playing openside.  The ball spun out and Seymour was on it in a flash to scamper over for our third try, again converted by Charlie.  Only 20 minutes gone and we were 7 – 21 up.  This was some match.

There was a period of Quins possession that came to nothing.  Jack Forster limped off to be replaced by Gavin Kerr, with Eifion shifting from loosehead to his more familiar side of the scrum.  Another nice Sale break looked like it was going to produce the bonus point but Ben Cohen was just held short.  On 33 minutes, a move faltered with Cohen dropping the ball; Quins were quick to counterattack and threw the ball all the way left then all the way right.  The overlap duly appeared and David Strettle sprinted down the wing to score out wide.  The conversion attempt missed leaving the score 12 – 21.

Sale kept the pressure on and a good tackle by Mathew Tait yielded a scrum for a knock-on.  Sisa broke from the scrum but Cueto knocked-on in turn.  This next scrum drew a mighty effort from the Sale forwards and the Quins were penalised.  With less than a minute of the half to go, and at 30 metres or so out, Charlie elected to go for the posts.  He was successful and when the whistle went it was 12 – 24.  I think most of us would have been happy enough with that as a full time score.

That thought was felt even more strongly when Quins started the second half in a rampant mood.  They pushed forward relentlessly, constantly moving the ball back and forth with their centres charging for gaps.  Evans kicked another penalty to touch and, although the lineout was overthrown, they soon had the ball back and were suddenly on the Sale line, driving in wave after wave of attacks.  They were rewarded by Easter diving over the top of a ruck, American football style, and touching down.  A quick check with the video ref awarded the try which Evans converted.  44 minutes, 19 – 24.  From looking down and out, Quins were back in the game.

They kept up the momentum with more attacks.  Sale looked vulnerable, as if they’d had a sleep at half time and hadn’t quite woken up.  At 49 minutes, David Bishop came on for Lee Thomas and we felt the loss of his defensive strength might be a problem.  A mistake by Cuets in our 22, being caught with the ball instead of kicking (it’s okay to kick sometimes), put us under further pressure.  It led to a 22 drop-out but the receiving Quin put up a poor kick.  Sale gathered and moved the ball quickly right where Charlie found some space to make a break down the wing.  There was enough cover to stop him so he used the ball to beat the defence; a chain of hands passed it in a long sweeping movement across the pitch.  Cohen was on hand on the left wing to run in clear air over the line.  After 51 minutes we had the bonus point.  Outstanding!  Charlie missed the difficult conversion leaving the score 19 – 29.

There was a good period of Sale possession but then a strong Quins attack that was held up over the line.  This set the tone for the next fifteen minutes, where Sale defended for their lives.  Sisa came off for Luke Abraham, with Carl Fearns moving to number eight; Cohen took Strettle out to touch just inches short; there were crucial tackles under the posts from Charlie and McLeod; the ball just wouldn’t leave the Sale 22.  Perhaps Quins were just a bit too desperate and a number of their attacks were foiled by fumbles, dropped passes and knocks-on.  Still the attacks came with scrums on the 5m line and penalties that Quins were forced to put to the corner.  Sale’s defence held firm though with some mighty try-line resistance.  After a long arm-wrestle on the line, where Easter was again held up, the ball was knocked-on.  Wiggy, who came on for Peel on 72 minutes, gratefully scooped the ball up and hammered it almost up to the halfway line.  We let out cheers of relief and appreciation at the heroic defence.

With only two minutes left on the clock, Sale were in possession and chucked the ball around a bit, but risked nothing much.  The time ran out and Charlie hoofed the ball out.  Full time: 19 – 29 and a try-scoring bonus point.  It was almost unbelievable.  Weren’t we supposed to be incapable of scoring tries?  What a difference, what a performance, what a team.  Seymour deservedly won man of the match: he seemed to be everywhere at once, tackling, running, heaving bodies in the ruck.  The boys all came over to wave at the visiting fans and I was choking up with joy, seeing how chuffed they all were at the result.

Afterwards we found our way to the King’s Bar and I’d like to thank all the Quins fans for being so welcoming and friendly, despite the loss, especially ‘Steaming’ Andy (hi Andy!) who was in the process of getting steaming once again.  A few of the Sale players wandered through and I was pleased to shake hands with Charlie and Seymour.  Visiting the Stoop makes me almost weep with jealousy at such a facility – all the bars, the space, being able to wander round at will, the big shops, the band in the bar afterwards (particularly the stunningly attractive lead singer who was hypnotising the, largely male, throng in front of her).  I’ll certainly be coming back and I’ll keep on wishing that we’ll have a stadium like that to play in one day.  With performances like that, we deserve it.

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