Posted in match reports

View from the Armchair: Newcastle Red Bulls 17 Sale Sharks 3 (PREM)

Posted on by an old grey dog

I have good news, and I have bad news…

The good news is that, after a shaky start, our discipline improved somewhat and we didn’t keep giving the initiative away with silly penalties.

The bad news is that we kept giving the initiative away by being a bit rubbish, instead.

One advantage of waiting a couple of days before writing these reports is that I’ve calmed down a bit and can be a little more dispassionate about events, so let’s get our balancing nuances in first, shall we?

The venue may be the same, but the team we played bore no resemblance to any team that has played there in the last few seasons, so all historical expectations should have been null and void. This is a team that has scored four tries away to both Exeter and Northampton (but, strangely, not at home). I know they had lost all three games prior to this one, but Saints were the only side to put them to the sword.

What I’m saying is, they’re not the whipping boys any more.

It might also be worth noting that only two teams in round four got a try bonus point, and nobody managed a losing bonus. Northampton and Bath, those rompers-in of tries (24 and 18 in three games previously), managed only a single try each. The only game that produced anything approaching an even contest was Quins v Saracens, and that was played in relatively glorious weather on the Sunday.

That said, we were objectively crap for most of that game.

Oh, the scrum worked well enough (mostly), but we butchered at least four attacking lineouts, and another one that was overthrown in midfield led more or less directly to Newcastle’s second try.

Much of the decision-making out there was – shall we say? – eccentric. I mean, did I miss something, or was what I thought was a penalty actually a free-kick? I don’t see how else to explain the decision to take a five-metre tap following a Newcastle infringement at a five-metre scrum.

As for the back line… One clean break. Reedy, I thought, looked lively when he came on. Everyone else just seemed flat. Lots of passes, but to little effect. Straight running lines, too easily smothered by the Newcastle defence.

You know what? Forget it, move on. I can’t be arsed thinking about this one any more. We’re playing badly, but we’re hanging in there. And that’s about the best I can come up with. It’s getting harder to maintain any positivity at the moment; I just console myself with the thought that, if this was last season, we’d probably have lost all four games. It’s not much – clutching at straws, even – but I’m not completely giving up yet.

There’s a big test coming up away to Bath next. I don’t hold out much hope that we’ll get anything, even though Bath are looking a bit fragile at the moment. But I didn’t hold out much hope of getting anything against Saracens either. As long as they play as if they want to win…

I’m going to be at Heywood Road watching the FC game whilst Sale are playing Bath, so next week’s match report is contingent on me being able to face watching the replay.

Posted in match reports

View from the South Stand: Sale Sharks 27 Glasgow Warriors 47 (ECC)

Posted on by an old grey dog

When it came down to it, I didn’t have the heart to write a match report.

I’m not going to make pious remarks about realising that rugby isn’t that important – it is important. Like all shared experiences and endeavours – playing or listening to music, going to the theatre or a restaurant; all the things we do together – rugby helps us bond with those around us. And that sharing, that mutuality, that empathy is a large part of what makes us human. I don’t turn up week in, week out, rain or shine, because I’m a bit bored. I turn up because I want to spend some time with my mates, talking, laughing, sharing the hopes and disappointments that following a sports team can bring. It reminds you that you’re alive, that you matter, that others matter.

And so we share: good times, bad times, joy, despair, elation, gloom …

… And grief.

And that seems to cut through all the rest, because we know that someone is feeling it so much harder than we are. We know that – we have been that person – so we feel not only our own grief, but also that of those most closely affected, as in a mirror, darkly.

In retrospect, I don’t care about the result of this game. Oh, I know that, for eighty minutes, we all cheered and groaned and questioned the referee’s parentage. We did that because we are a social species and because, for a while, it gave us a distraction, a temporary respite from the grief.

But, when it was over, that was the time for reflection. There were guys out there hurting, but they played for Hyron’s memory, and I have no intention of commenting on or criticising anybody’s actions under that sort of stress. No, for a while we in the crowd could forget, but now we will remember.

Because the rugby is important, but sometimes it doesn’t matter.

In lieu of a report, here are the two tries that were scored in front of the south stand, and the one that wasn’t.

A rugby match in progress with players from two teams on the field. One player is attempting a tackle while others are in dynamic poses, showcasing the intensity of the game.
A rugby player dives to score a try while teammates and opponents watch during a match. The crowd is visible in the background, with a mixture of colors in the stands.
Two rugby players colliding on the field, with one about to score a try near the goalpost.
Posted in match reports

View from the South Stand: Sale Sharks 28 Harlequins 24 (PREM)

Posted on by an old grey dog

Sometimes, I think I could probably get away with having a generic boilerplate report and just fill in the name of the opposition and the score.

Blah, blah, penalties, blah, blah, giving the initiative away, blah, blah, blah…

That’s about it, isn’t it?

Given the disparity between the Harlequins of rounds one and two, and the Harlequins that came to Salford, you might be forgiven for concluding that they rely far too heavily on having a fit Marcus Smith available.

Whether that is the case or not, he was the difference for the first ten minutes or so, as Quins came out of the blocks as if they had a rocket up their bums. Sale looked a bit bewildered by the ferocity of Quins’ start and ended up leaving huge holes in the defence, which Quins exploited mercilessly. Fortunately, Smith had left his kicking boots in the changing room, so we were only ten points down.

Only ten points… 🙄

After that initial double whammy, the defence seemed to get its act together and Harlequins weren’t able to make inroads with quite the alacrity that they had in the opening minutes. The damage had been done, by this time, though.

But Sale came back into it and, within five minutes, had pulled the deficit back to three with a well-worked try from Elia Canakaivata, following some decent interplay in the backs and a bit of bullying by the forwards.

Unfortunately, Quins restored their lead a few minutes later with Smith’s second try and its conversion.

It was all starting to look very ominous…

Gus darted through a hole in the defence three minutes before half time to restore a bit of respectability to the scoreline, but we were all still feeling pretty low at what was a, frankly, sub-standard performance.

Spirits sank lower ten minutes into the second half, when Quins scored their bonus-point try to go ten points up again. This was getting familiar…

Halfway into the half, Ben Bamber carried a couple of Quins defenders over the line to once again reduce the deficit to three.

Then, with less than ten minutes to go, the get-out-of-jail-free card: a good driving maul brought down a couple of metres from the line. A yellow card and a penalty try and, for the first time, we were ahead.

I won’t detail the almost comedic dithering around at a scrum, occasioned by Quins having to lose another man because of going to uncontested scrums, followed by more confusion as they needed yet another replacement, because you have to have a fully qualified front row, even for uncontested scrums.

For the second match in a row, Sale played the stuffing it up the jumper game to wind down the clock and get a welcome, if probably undeserved, win.

A win’s a win, for a’ that. As many have pointed out, we’d have lost that game last season – badly. For now, I’ll take a couple of scrappy wins whilst the team sorts itself out.

For now.

Good shifts from Jibs, Ben Bamber and Elia Canakaivatu. A bit of a mixed bag elsewhere: Reedy butchering a gift-wrapped chance, lines missed, too many penalties. With Glasgow coming to Salford next, the team’s going to have to sort itself out pretty smartish, or we could be in for a pasting.

But then, we thought that about Saracens…