By FlyingShark and Strinesian Saleanian
August 13 2004

The 2004-2005 season is nearly here, so it's time for pre-season friendlies. For their first two games, Sale visited the south of France to play Perpignon and Béziers. South of France, eh? No ulterior motives there, then. Two lucky s*ds who went were FlyingShark and Strinesian Saleanian... Perpignon vs Sale by FlyingShark

Got the ground two hours before K.O. for a nosey: fantastic stadium. Seated on three sides and open at one end. Fortunately, unlike international grounds in France, beer was partaken in bars under the stands. Its new, concrety (Eh?), but had a great atmosphere. I guess there were about a couple of thousand Perp fans there and about 50-60 Sale.

The whole squad were there warming up (no Bondy mind) but it was clear from the start some of the regulars were going to be carrying water bottles. Big Red putting the forwards through the routines and Mark Nelson running the backs. PSA and Kingsley Jones looking on.
The team that started was something like
1) Ted 2)Bruno 3)Stewart 4)Tam 5)Schoey 6)Chabal (but actually played openside) 7)Magnus 8)Bambi 9)Basil 10)Charlie 11)Mayor 12)Toddy 13)CR Jones 14)Qwates 15)Mmm now let me think

What follows is meant to be just a flavour of the game really. The 20min breaks and numerous positional changes make it hard to be objective about the result. There were some Hi points and some Lo points.

The game started brightly for us pinning them in there own half for long stretches thumping great tackles going in from both sides. Leading the charge was Chabal. He was the proverbial man possessed and definately had a point to make to his French bretheren. (Theres going to be a few sore heads by the time he's finished this year), either the ball went past or the man went past but never the two together!!
One of the best parts of the early exchanges was scrumtime! Amazingly Perpignon only had one gear for the first few scrums...!! reverse!! They were taking a beasting in the front row, their hooker popping every time as Ted and Bazzer got to work!! Not many times I've been able to say that. The down side was that most scrums were because of our knock-ons, usually from the re-start which was scrappy at best with Lund being given the job of chasing them. The usual flurry of tit for tat penalties followed, Manny Edmonds getting the better of the kicking war.

A couple of scruffy tries for Perpignon followed against the run of play, one from an intercepted Hodgson pass to set up a period of play in our 22. Another from a charged down Robbo kick after being sent scurrying back from a clever Edmonds lob. It has to be said at this point Charlie and Basil were not playing with any zip and it was in the second quarter a bungled move led to another kick upfield and a ruck from which a frenchman strolled unopposed down the blindside for their third try(or was it the second?). One thing that has to be mentioned at this stage were the lineouts. Or what passed for them anyway. First Bruno and then Rodders could not hit their jumpers. Not saying it was entirely their fault but if the throwing in wasnt a bit squiffy then the timing of the jumper was all wrong ,nonetheless the result was the same.
By this time it was difficult to keep abreast of the player changes. Perret was on, Benton for Basil, Herco for Charlie and James Moore on the wing. It has to be said when Herco came on the back row seemed to fire just that little bit faster and he pinged his penalty and conversion, (Charlie hitting 2 from 4) Its going to be interesting to see how that little tussle develops.

Perpignon were also making plenty of changes at ths stage. Unfortunately with no programme or teamsheet it was impossible to gauge the calibre of their team but we certainly stemmed the tide in the second half and after something like ten phases of side to side ,slick passing managed to put James Moore in off the left wing for a champagne try.

There were some good points:
scrums,Chabal,Tam,Ted,Schoey all on the rampage,Herco (his passing and his boot) and some bad points;lineouts (shambolic),defense around the rucks and rolling maul,restarts. But hey, there's a lot of new,young players and when they gel will be a great team.

After the game, a few of the players alluded to the fact that they're on a bit of a learning curve and will have it all together for the start of the season. I'm sure the coaches will have plenty to work on.

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Béziers vs Sale by Strinesian Saleanian

Just back from France today - finding it hard to believe that just a mere 24 hours ago I was sat outside the Beziers club house, bierre in hand naturellement, prior to an EXCEPTIONAL evening's entertainment.

What can I tell you...WE WON!!!!!

What's more...WE WON A CUP!!!! The 'Trophie Bacchus' (very appropriate - hic) is apparently something to do with Beziers being Stockport's twin town.

Anyway, the match. Much more steel about the Sale performance. As with USAP, it was four 20 min sessions and well over 20 players had a run out. Robbo, Toddy & Basil were rested, Woodman still didn't play, and I didn't spot Simon Hunt (unless he slipped on during the final frantic minutes).

Much better performance up front, although there was a period when we appeared to be 'living off scraps' early on, we then won approx 50% of possession I'd say. Titts was outstanding, Perrett did well and CJ was back to his galloping self. Still work to be done in the lineouts though, timing not quite there yet - especially when throwing to the back.

Carter came on at flanker for the second half (bit anonymous I thought - jury still out, certainly no Tam!) as did Rodders & Bruno (who got a very warm welcome from the home fans - he was obviously popular when he played for Bez, which bodes well). Chabel played most of the second half and was again impressive at 7, but still his temperament remains a worry - as at USAP, he gave away several penalties and proceeded to give the referee a mouthful on more than one occasion: we'll get marched back a good few yards in the ZP if he keeps it up!). Significantly perhaps, another (nameless) fella came on in the second row for the last quarter (Schoey & Day started) - unfortunately, none of the Sale fans recognised him, so I presume it's another 'trialist'. Shame really, 'cos he got himself yellow-carded with 5 minutes to go!

It was also good to see Martin Halsall given a 20 minute run - did fine in the set piece, but seemed to struggle to catch up with the pace of the game. At 19, though, he looks like he could 'make it' (and has now played both tight & loose over the two games). Sherri, Stewart and Turner each played the equivalent of a full half and neither were afraid to put their heads in where it counts...as usual.

As the Offy board says, Beziers were certainly intimidating and niggly, and despite what I've written above, we did well to control our discipline - although there were 3 separate brawl/handbag pile ins which were (a) entertaining and, more importantly, (b) showed that we were 'up for it' and playing with a bit of passion...which was nice!

Martens started at 9 to be replaced by Wiggy from the second period. I felt it was noticeable that Sale's tempo in the backs increased notably from this point on - the passing was quicker and flatter, enabling Hercus (and later Charlie) to make some good breaks. Martens is bigger & stronger, but Wiggy seems the better ditributor on this performance. Scott Benton again played a part and to be fair couldn't be faulted either.

Jos captained the team from outside centre (and played like...well...like Jos!) with CRJ at inside. Now I may be a bit biased here, because Mr & Mrs Jones were sitting/standing/shouting nearby, but I thought he was particularly good. Chris Mayor came on later and made one fantastic break from inside our 22 up to the Beziers 10 metre line.

And so to the back 3 - Frank and Stan with Jimmy Moores at 15. What class we have at the back! It was interesting that Frank and Jimmy regularly swapped positions, especially in defensive formation, a little like Robbo & Lewsey for England, and it worked well. Indeed, Sale's try started from a Frank counter from fullback (of which Robbo, one of 2 Sale RWC winning water-carriers on the night, would have been proud), in which he jinked and stepped himself from 22 to 22, passing up to Stan (who had shadowed him the whole move) at the last to score next to the posts and effectively kill off Beziers at 19-9. Sheer joy to behold. Why Frank is not in the England team is a mystery (but if I'm being honest/selfish, I'd rather he was playing for us every week so don't tell SCW!).

The last 20 minutes, as I've said above, proved to be a rough, tough and passionate affair, with Beziers gradually drawing back through possession, forward play and a couple of pens, but they were never going to have enough time against the determination and heart shown by Sale...and considering the 15 who finished will in all likelihood bear no resemblance to Sale's first choice oufit at home to Glasgow, it was a wholly satisfying evening.