By Nick Batley
September 10 2006

It was a beautiful day in southern Manchester. The sun was shining. The drinks were nice and cool. The credit card salespeople were flogging Sale hats and Saints wallets. And there was a game of rugby to be played, live on Sky.

‘Char-k’ Attack Sinks Saints under the Stockport Sun

 

Sale Sharks, the Premiership champions versus the Saints, who have arguably the best backs in the league. Neither side had played to their almighty best the previous weeks, and were both out to prove a point          

 

So, I sat down on my seat right up against the wall, making it virtually impossible to see anything past the halfway line, and watched, or rather listened, to the pre-match entertainment; a man called Martin Taol. He sang three songs, two of which I couldn’t make out because of the echoey PA system and one that was unmistakably ‘Nessun Dorma’. This came complete with cheerleaders, who seemed to be dancing to a completely different song. I’m not entirely sure that cartwheels and back flips go well with classical music.

 

Just before two o’clock, the teams wandered out, Sale in their sparkly new ‘all blue with odd white fins’ kit and Saints in their equally sparkly new white strip. I was slightly nervous at the sight of Digger in the No. 11 shirt instead of Benny (who pulled out with a virus), but it would be a good step up for the lad.

 

At the turn of two o’clock, Hodgson kicked off the match, and if the rest of the game had been like the first thirty seconds, I’m afraid your reporter may have left at halftime. His Majesty the King Carlos cleared the ball as far as Ripol, who ran round just about anyone who tried to tackle him. Luckily for us and slightly embarrassingly for him, he slipped over with about ten metres to go, and the Saintly ones got a scrum.

 

However, the Saints relief was to be short-lived. Not long after Barnard was beaten up by the Sale front row for his dinner money, the Sharks got a penalty for joining the ruck at the side, which Charlie ‘Sponsored by UK Fast’ Hodgson, duly converted.

 

Never mind, we were soon with in reach of the Sale line and we got a penalty in the corner. The team duly followed one of these options:

1)    Carlos taps it into the corner for a line-out

2)    Bruce, if he’s feeling lucky, goes for goal

3)    The pack crouch down for a scrum

4)   Wally puts his Spencer hat on and boots it from one side of the pitch to the other, resulting in the Saints being kind of isolated

It really was a strange decision and the men in white eventually got the Gregors and passed the ball to the touchline, but not before big bad Mark Cueto had barged ickle Diggin onto the gravel (roughly two centimetres from the touchline). Digger, being Digger, didn’t take too kindly to this and luckily, the TV cameras couldn’t hear what he actually said, though you could tell.

 

Then things got a bit worse for the Saints. That kind soul, Mr. Tupai, was binned for a shoulder barge and Charlie duly converted the resultant penalty. Whilst Brucie got a penalty a couple of minutes later, Sale got into their stride and after a long period of running into our players, Cueto flopped over the line, Hodgson enthusiastically converting to make the score 13-3 by twenty-two mins.

 

Eight minutes later, after another Cueto barge sends Diggin flying into the barrier, Charlie

Mark Cueto

 

stood back and popped the ball through the posts in the form of a drop goal. Soon after, Tam commented on Mr Rose’s refereeing style, so the man in the middle marched him down the pitch and the Sale no. 10 converted. Another drop goal (running one this time, quite novel) left the Saints facing being down 22-3 at the half.

 

But Sale hadn’t counted on Sharky (ours, not their dancing mascot), who danced through their defence, and after an inside pass by Los, Monty ran inside, hopped round Robinson, and dived over the line. The Saints went into the tunnel 22-10 down, but a little more pleased with themselves.

 

And boy, did they come out firing. From the restart, Sale looked slightly nervous, and Northampton capitalised. Quick passing including a corker from Air Bruce sent Tupai over in the corner, dragging over the tackling powerhouse that is Ripol. Bruce missed the conversion, but the southerners were in a good position, or certainly better than on the thirty seven minute mark, at 22-15.

 

However, Sale soon got back into gear and were left with a huge wide open space on the wing. Two on one. Try, surely? Um, no. Cueto could have held Mayor’s family hostage and the Sale centre still wouldn’t have given it to him. Still, he paid the price and Monty sprinted over to tackle him, resulting in a knock on.

 

But yet again, Saints relief ran low five minutes later. A strange bit of play, where none of the Saints players actually moved, but passed from one side of the pitch to the other, resulting in Bruce being stuck for options. Eventually, he kicked it, straight into Chris Bell’s chargedown, and whilst Magnus Lund was offside (even he conceded this), the try was given as the video ref can only be used for in-goal matters. Strange rule, I know, but there you go. Hodgson converted and the Sharks were swimming at 29-15.

 

Lund was duly punished for his try by being sin binned for joining the ruck at the side too many times three minutes later. From the penalty, Saints decided to go for a lineout. Why, with one extra man, they didn’t go for a scrum, I’m not entirely sure. But anyway, we got another penalty. Scrum now, surely? Um, no, touch again. And inevitably, a horrible throw resulted in Sale getting the ball and another chance being wasted.

 

And some minutes later, the controversial bit. Spencer tackled Hodgson (nothing wrong with that). Afterwards, Hodgson clung onto Spencer’s leg (something wrong with that) and Spencer flicked Hodgson off with his boot (something wrong with that). Spencer will probably get cited (it was more of a stamp), but there was a lot of stuff both sides got away with, so we’ll just let it be. Sale got a penalty just after, so it was always going to be 32-15.

 

Still, the Saints carried on. Kydd shot his way through the Sale defence and looked close to scoring. However, it was not to be, and Monty was unlucky to ‘knock it on’ in the ruck with the help of the newly qualified bricklayer, Andy Sheridan.

 

Eventually, the men in white were rewarded with a try. The forwards strutted their stuff, and after a lot of pressure, Lamont managed to get the ball down despite the best efforts of Robinson.

Reihana, again, missed the conversion, but if they hurried, the Saints could get two bonus points. Unfortunately, there was just not enough time, and when Shorty knocked it on, Mr. Rose blew his whistle and the Sharks had won 32-20.

 

You may get the impression from the score, that Sale won quite comfortably, but I’m not sure this is the case. Robbie Kydd at full-back was brilliant, great tackling and some super fast runs. Quinners put in some big tackles on Chabal. Lamont finished off his tries well. Barnard showed Sheridan a thing or two. Overall, we’ve played worse and won (last week’s a good example). It was always going to be hard to beat the champions on their own patch of ocean, and we certainly didn’t disgrace ourselves.

 

 

Onto next week then…

 

Teams:
Sale Sharks - Robinson (capt); Cueto, Mayor (Taylor 59mins), Bell, Ripol; Hodgson, Wigglesworth (Foden 72mins); Sheridan (Stewart 40-52mins), Bruno (Gaona 68mins), Evans (Stewart 52mins), Jones (Tait 72mins), White, Fernandez Lobbe, Lund, Chabal (Day 59mins).

Northampton Saints - Kydd; Lamont, Reihana (capt), Quinlan, Diggin; Spencer, Robinson (Vass 70mins); Smith, Thompson (Richmond 28mins), Barnard (Budgen 74mins), Damien Browne (Lord 57mins), Short, Tupai, Fox (Lewitt 68mins), Daniel Browne (Easter 68mins).

Scorers:
Sale Sharks - Tries: Cueto, Lund; Cons: Hodgson (2); Pens: Hodgson (4); Drop-goals: Hodgson (2).

Northampton Saints - Tries: Lamont (2), Tupai; Con: Reihana; Pen: Reihana.

Yellow cards:
Tupai (17mins)
Lund (59mins)

Attendance:
9,418