I had a quick rummage in the old clichés drawer and found it tangled up with a couple of trite aphorisms. A quick dusting and a bit of polish and I can bring you: ‘This was a game of two halves’.
The first half was one of frustration against une défense solide, a try ruled out by the brush of a fingertip, un essai opportuniste and two penalties (finally) to keep Sale just ahead at halftime.
The second half, by contrast, saw a much more dominant Sale attack in the face of a tiring Stade defence. Three tries, two conversions and a penalty to nowt and the majority of possession and territory.
A change of angle – or maybe time and the knowledge of the result – can have an effect on your perception of a game (or half). Watching from a hundred yards away turns the game 2-D: perspective is compressed and what appears to be aimless side-to-side running turns out – on watching the replay – to be an incisive cut-back that gains five to ten metres.
Also, it can be difficult to see how close play is to the far try line so, when Manu got to within a metre on a couple of occasions, that wasn’t immediately apparent. Watching later from side-on, it was much clearer how close we went on several occasions.
Sometimes, this a game of inches. If Joe had been six inches further forward, he might have got a better hold of the ball, rather than reaching a bit and knocking on. If the ball had sat up another foot, Tom Roebuck might have been able to gather and run in rather than have to kick on and watch it go dead.
The consensus before the game was that this one was too difficult to call, even given that no one recognised the names of anyone in the Stade starting lineup. The halftime score only served to deepen that feeling of uncertainty, with the general feeling being that Sale were seriously lacking in penetration and inventiveness, given that they had something like seventy per cent of the possession and territory.
That was both unfair on Sale and dismissive of Stade, though. Apart from those but-for-a-couple-of-inches nearly scores, it was the Stade defence that fairly effectively blunted everything that Sale attempted. And Sale played a lot better in that first half than was apparent from a vantage point some distance away.
Oh, there were some howlers: after the forwards earned an early scrum penalty, George kicked the ball dead going too close to the line. Ten minutes later, the forwards returned the compliment by buggering up a lineout following George’s sublime 50-22 kick.
Yes, we had some of the inevitable kick tennis, but also some clever kicks, which, if they weren’t always perfectly executed, were at least an attempt at finding ways around a well-drilled defensive line.
The second half hadn’t been long underway before we could see that the defensive shift that Stade had put in was starting to take its toll. Before, they had been able to push Sale back twenty metres; now, they were barely holding the gain line. A little bit slower to the breakdown and giving up more turnovers (to be fair, that last may have had more to do with Gus Creevy entering the fray). Add to that Sale upping the tempo and aggression at rucks and Stade were now finding themselves rushed and panicking where before they had been handling the pressure comfortably.
Inevitably, then, the dam broke and, first, O’Flats then Jonny Hill scored and finally Sam Dugdale put the final gloss on a comfortable victory. Stade tried desperately to get a consolation at the end but Sale held them out, even earning a scrum from which they tried to launch a final attack in search of the bonus point try. It was not to be: a kick out wide to O’Flats was a bit too far forward and it bobbled into touch to end the game.
So, conclusions…
First, we lost Dan and SiMac in the first fifteen minutes: let’s hope they aren’t too seriously injured – we need them. Also, Sharkey going off for the second time didn’t look like it was exactly to plan. Might we have some enforced-even-if-they-were-planned-anyway changes to the team for Dublin? I suspect Dan would have been rested against Leinster and it might have made sense to rotate SiMac and Sharkey out, too, giving regard to the visit of Saracens too soon after what will probably be a bruising encounter in round two.
My main takeaway from this game is that we trusted some young lads on the biggest stage and they delivered. Bringing Curtis on for Ford with twenty minutes to go and a nine-point lead was no “go out and get some of the atmosphere” with the game sewn up token gesture. If Curtis had bottled it, we could still have lost that game. But Tom’s made of stronger stuff than that, as his performances for FC have shown. He’s also shown that he’s got a decent boot on him, converting Hill’s try from about six inches in from the touchline.
Connor Doc got a quarter of an hour at outside centre and didn’t look at all out of place.
Ben Bamber had a good game, too. It seemed that every time in the first half that someone was battering Stade’s defence, he had a 4 on his back.
And then there’s Asher…
Again.
Forty-five minutes in two stints against a powerful pack (and a leading loosehead in Castets), he not only held his own, but he also munched them. Add to that some hefty carrying and breaking of tackles; about the only thing he made a mess of was a pass in the second half that might have led to the first try had it gone anywhere near the intended recipient.
Talk about rewarding trust. Now, I want to see Tumy start to show what he can do and, by the way, what’s happened to Ma’asi-White? I think the future’s looking good: if not this year, then next.
I still think there’s a sense of the attack not being properly tuned yet. Like a Formula One engine that needs a bit of firtling with, the potential’s obvious, and it’s sounding good but it’s not giving its all quite yet.
Manu made a difference: it wasn’t until I rewatched the game that I saw how often he actually broke through tackles rather than take contact and go to ground. And that pick-up and carry the player ten yards in the first half…
As David Flatman said afterwards: a grinning Manu is a fearsome sight for the opposition because it means he’s enjoying himself.
Leinster next. I’ve heard talk of sending a weakened team (because Sarries) but I don’t think Alex will do that. He believes that we can fight in two competitions and I agree. I suspect that there will be some changes (because Sarries), but that those changes will not substantially weaken the team. It’s going to depend on where the other injured players are with regard to being match-fit. If we can get Bev and J-L back and maybe even Ellis and Veianu (is Luke still out long-term?), we still have a top-notch team.
I’d keep Dugdale in and give Ernie another week off to get ready for Saracens and Josh at 8 isn’t a bad shout to give Dan a rest, if he’s not injured.
Give Manu another run out to get him properly warmed for making mincemeat of Billy Vunipola the week after.
Maybe bring Rob back in at 10, start Raffi and give Gus a week off. Time to ask Nye to step up as well – I’m sure he can do it.
I’ll be in Dublin, so I’m hoping we put on a good show and give those who’ve already written us off a bit of humble pie to chew on. My head doesn’t hold out much hope of a win but, then, what does my head know about anything, anyway?
One thing is certain: there will be Guinness…
an old grey dog 