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View from the south stand: Sale 36 Saracens 36


By Cap'n Major Bloodnok
March 3 2016

So far in 2016, Sale have beaten the teams currently in 4th, 3rd and 2nd place. This time it was the visit of the leaders. Could Sale get a fourth notable victory or would the proud unbeaten home run finally end? IN the event, neither...

It is a truth universally acknowledged that any extended run of good results by Sale will eventually come to a shuddering halt, usually in a match that said run of results suggested they should win comfortably.

But that was last week at Worcester. This week: Saracens. Top of the table, with a squad brimming with talent and experience, this was a game we would be happy to get a point from. Couple the squad strength of Sarries with the previous week’s result, and you get a pretty pessimistic crowd gathered prior to what felt like a pre-dawn kick-off.

 

Dimes had made a few changes to the team that lost at Worcester, including one enforced by the injury to Josh Beaumont—replaced by Mark Easter. One significant change that Dimes didn’t make was at number 10, giving Danny a vote of confidence that we hoped would help spur an end to his recent run of less-than-expected form. Peter Stringer, at 97 years old and still looking like a bunch of steel rods held together with bungee rope, started at scrum half.

The forwards looked strong (they would need to be), and having the likes of Eiffy, Moooooooj and TJ to come on later suggested that we should be able to hold on against a depleted, but still immensely strong (and 30kg heavier), Saracens pack.

Captain for the day, Lord Hodgson of Heywood and Edgeley, led Saracens on to the pitch. Charlie, of all ex-Sale players, is, I think, greeted the most warmly on his return to his old stomping ground. There is a feeling amongst the supporters that he never really went away; that it was an Act of Brewer that caused a disruption in spacetime and flung us into an alternative universe where he’s constantly playing for the wrong team.

Or maybe we’re all in denial.


 

Anyway, Charlie kicked off and it wasn’t long before that weight disparity in the pack showed as Saracens disrupted the first scrum on Sale’s put-in. Looking ominous. The next Sale scrum looked to be going the same way, but actually became the trigger for ten minutes of utter delight for the Sale fans; were we extras watching events written by the guy who used to write Jason Robinson’s scripts?

Details: Sale scrum under pressure. Easter falls to the ground, but scoops the ball up to Stringer. Stringer to Cipriani. Cipriani to Tom Arscott’s Magic Day-Glo Boots, cutting out on the angle. Boots to James, James to Haley (he’s better than an international full back), Haley to Addison. Addison, with barely any room on the right wing, wiggles between the line and two defenders, breaks forward and delivers the ball inside to James who then has an easy run-in to score.

That was a try to grace any Sale side of whatever era you wish to name. It was a try to cut out and keep, to bring out when things look bleak. The All Blacks would happily add that to their training manual.

Cipriani kicked the conversion, prompting a rendition of Handel’s Halleluiah from the South Stand massive. One or two members of the choir actually managed to sing it in the right key, but they were soon suppressed as being subversives.

And there was more to come.

Two minutes later and Cipriani put a delightful chip over the Saracens front-line defence. Sarries defenders were guilty of ball-watching as Sam James ran through, nicked the ball from a defender’s hands and fed to Leota out on the right wing. With no defenders in front of him (would it have mattered if there were?), Mr. T plonked the ball down right in the corner.

Danny missed the conversion.

And yet more…

Somewhere inside the Sale 10 metre line, Stringer passed to Cipriani.

Does anyone remember the 1970 World Cup and Gordon Banks’s fabulous save from a Pele header? My abiding memory of that save is “How on earth did the ball come out of that?” Same here: Danny offloaded to Ostrikov from a tackle that appeared to have covered that angle. How did the ball come out of that?

The Russian Bear then handed off to the Magic Day-Glo Boots, who then moved it left to Mr. T, who returned the ball with a lovely back-handed offload. A dummy inside and a shimmy to the outside and there was try number three after only 17 minutes.

The conversion drifted to the left of the posts.

One try away from a bonus point and 17-0 up against the league leaders; everything was looking rosy. Seasoned old heads, though, knew that Sale were perfectly capable of blowing it. Failing to score another try with 60+ minutes to go? Seen it. Allowing a 17-point lead to be whittled away? Not a problem. The bums were already squeaking.

And so it proved, as Hamilton scored from a rolling maul following a 5-metre lineout. The ref checked with the TMO and, at the time and watching on the “big” screen, it looked as if the officials didn’t look at enough angles to confidently award the try. To be fair, Wigglesworth was checking that nothing in the lead up was iffy, and it wasn’t, so the complaint didn’t really stand. Doesn’t stop us from moaning about it, though. Charlie kicked the conversion to make it 17-7.

A penalty for a no-arm tackle by Vadeeeeeeeem took the score to 17-10, and grizzled old heads shook from side to side in knowing despair.

17-15 followed soon after as Wiles scored wide out left. And not long after that he scored again. This try will be discussed as much as Frank’s World Cup try-that-wasn’t. Was Wiles in touch? The officials said “no”, so no it is. I still think that his knee or hip was on the line before he touched it down.

Between the two tries, though, Charlie went for a tackle and got a smack in the head from a team-mate’s hip. After a few minute’s treatment, he left the field to a standing ovation from the home support. Given that he was taken to hospital for precautionary checks and so never reappeared, it was a most unsatisfying way for the Sale faithful to say goodbye to one of their all-time favourites.

Half time, 17-22, and “here we go again” was the refrain amongst the long-suffering support.


 

Sale were just back in front after about ten minutes of the second half following two penalties that made the score 23-22. Not long after that, another penalty made it 26-22.

Four points is never enough, though, as a Sam James error demonstrated. Having had to juggle the ball, James tried an offload that went not only forward, but to Wiley in space. An inside pass to Tomkins and suddenly it’s 26-29 and Sarries have the try bonus point.

Not long after that, Ellery intercepted a James pass and ran pretty much the length of the field to score, despite a determined chase by Cipriani.

26-36 with ten minutes to go. Sale had been outscored 36-9 over the previous fifty minutes and the doomsayers at 17-0 up were feeling vindicated.

But then, as much as Sale are capable of throwing away good starts, they are equally capable of the late rally.

From a 5-metre line out, Sale quickly formed a good maul and Teeee-Jaaaayy flopped over for Sale’s bonus point try. Cipriani really should have got the conversion: it was on the right side for him, and halfway between the posts and the touchline. He missed, though.

Close to time, the ball moves left and the Magic Day-Glo Boots get their second try to bring the scores level at 36-all. The conversion could have won it but—guess what?—it went wide.

And that should have been it, except that Sale did again what they did against Exeter and Worcester. Instead of accepting a decent result, they went for broke and risked all. Rather than putting the ball into row Z, they ended up giving it back to Saracens who, thankfully, did the sensible thing and booted it away.


 

To be honest, before the game, I’d have settled for three league points and retaining the unbeaten home record. Given the first twenty minutes, it feels like two points given away. However, given the subsequent fifty minutes, it feels like three points gained.

Yes, it’s frustrating that Cipriani missed 50% of his kicks. But we’ve always known that he’s a flaky kicker. Dimes has had four years in which he could have ensured that a more reliable backup was available. And who knows? A lesser fly half might not have provided the tries to have conversions to miss. The kick for Leota’s try and the offload for Arscott’s first were sublime. Did Cipriani lose us four points with those, or gain us ten? And 14 points gifted to Saracens from mistakes (not Cipriani’s), one interception, almost forgiveable, the other—a badly misjudged offload attempt—definitely a rush of blood to the head that should hopefully never be repeated.

Yes, things have gone a bit pear-shaped over the last couple of weeks, but it’s only really the Worcester game that is a blight on 2016’s performances so far. So we had an extended hiccup against Saracens, but we came back and showed a lot of dog. Build on it: we may be 8th, but that’s only a few points behind 3rd. There’s still all to play for.

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