Well, it was a win… just.
For about ten minutes at the start of that game, I was seriously wondering if they’d weighed up the thought of a quarter-final game versus five weeks off and were leaning toward a beach somewhere in Spain. Take the time Newcastle bollixed up a nailed-on score with a wayward pass: we recovered the ball, almost immediately gave away a silly penalty, and handed the initiative right back. The fact that they made nothing of it is on them, not us.
But we held them out, forced our way down to the Falcons’ end, and – at the first time of asking – put points on the board with a try from Tadgh, converted by Tom Curtis.
Seven-nil after ten minutes, this would be a walk in the park.
Except… of course, you knew it wouldn’t be. Newcastle seem to have targeted this competition for some sort of reward from the season, and – honestly – I think that’s a smart move. They’ve been down in the basement for so long that they need something – anything – to give them some sort of belief, even if it is by winning against what are mostly second and academy sides. They’re working on a shoestring budget and they’ve just lost one of their best players mid-season (having already lost significant players from last season), so a bit of success has got to be good for morale.
I can’t begrudge them that, even if playing a full-strength side goes against the unwritten ‘spirit’ of the competition.
None of which should be taken to imply that I wasn’t totally peed off when they levelled the scores four minutes later (you didn’t think I would have been sanguine about losing, did you?)
Things remained level for another fifteen minutes or so, at which point Sale were pressing hard on the Newcastle line and Newcastle were giving away penalties to an extent that we were wondering if the ref had left his cards in the dressing room. After a couple of tap penalties failed to get any reward, Bev decided that pick-and-go wasn’t working and tried the direct approach. Tap to himself, charge, bludgeon his way over the line. Seven-point gap restored, let’s go…
… For about three minutes. Stevenson got the ball not far from the halfway line, chipped it over the defence, regathered and ran in pretty much unopposed. Not their finest hour defensively, it must be said.
All level at half time.
As for the second half…
Yeah. This time the ref remembered his cards and did for J-L about ten minutes in for repeated penalties. we survived that, but, with less than fifteen minutes to go, a Connon penalty broke the deadlock.
And then, there we were: three points down with about twenty seconds to go but camped on the Falcons’ line. Cam Neild – formerly of this parish – took a team yellow and Sale’s progress in the cup came down to one last throw of the dice. Another tap penalty, carry it up, recycle, and there’s Ben Bamber crash over the line. The ref spent an agonising few seconds looking before raising his arm for the try.
A win by two points, but enough to progress.
OK, let’s address the elephant in the room. I’ve watched it back and, although it’s difficult to see, there is a case to be made that the ref got it wrong. It does look as if Wase grounded the ball.
But it’s not conclusive…
So, benefit of the doubt but there’s still some culpability in my mind.
I get (possibly irrationally) annoyed when players do that “gently touching the ball on the grass” thing when they’ve gone into the in-goal untackled. Or running all the way to the back of the in-goal. It feels a bit arrogant, to my mind. A bit… disrespectful, almost. It annoyed me when Lawrence did it against France (although he, at least, had it in two hands). It probably stems from a Six (possibly even Five) Nations game many years ago when a French player (can’t remember who) did a bit of grandstanding before placing the ball and got it knocked out of his hands by the chasing player, who he hadn’t seen.
That sounds familiar…
Watch Stevenson’s try – ball clutched to the chest and fall over full length, even though there’s no one nearby. Take no chances.
The thing is, the only reason that incident seems so egregious is that it was very visible, avoidable, and could have had a serious impact on the game. But, then again, being chipped forty metres out to let in a score is no less an influence, but that’s “just an error”.
What I’m saying is: yeah, schoolboy error, but it wasn’t the only one out there, just the most visible. Leave him alone.
All of which is a bit of an annoying side issue because I thought he had a pretty decent game overall.
Shout-outs to Nye Thomas and his replacement, Dom Hanson; Ollie Davies gave a decent account of himself, as did Alfie Longstaff.
Interesting to see Bev and Asher come off the bench after thirty minutes: I wonder if that was a request from the England camp to give them some meaningful game time?
And, finally, it was so good to see Ross Harrison back out there. Legend.
So, it’s off to Exeter for the quarter-final. I believe that the way the knock-out rounds are structured means that a win there would give us a home semi-final. Maybe I’d even be able to whip up some enthusiasm.
I just wish that Premiership Rugby would figure out what they really want out of this competition. What is it supposed to achieve? At the moment, it’s just “that thing that happens during the internationals”. It deserves more.
an old grey dog 