So, in the end, it was not to be. This proved to be a game too far and Sale couldn’t quite manage the heroic fairy tale we all dreamed of.
I don’t really have a lot to say about the game other than that we were let down, I feel, by a bit of regression to the norm: some silly penalties, fumbling the ball at crucial points and so on. All things that were notably absent from the previous five outings.
If we could have just kept those out of this game, I’m sure we could/would/should have won it. Even so, I think the score flattered Bath. Without the silly penalties, it would have come down to a missed conversion, which is probably a more accurate reflection of the game.
I can’t fault the heart with which everyone played. At no point did Bath ever manage to dominate any area of the game. To be fair, neither did Sale, which is probably why it was such a good game, a real ding-dong battle: back-and-forth, toe-to-toe, mano-a-mano.
And that’s about all I have to say right now. Partly that’s down to a degree of disappointment that we didn’t manage to go the final yard but mostly it’s because many of the things I want to say actually fit better in a season round-up, so they’ll go there when I get around to it.
So let’s talk performances instead. This is another one of those games where you should be name-checking everyone because you don’t want to imply that anyone didn’t pull their weight. I’m going to single out Carps, though, because of the way he quickly disabused Bath of the idea that peppering him with high balls was a fruitful tactic. It’s been a delight watching him grow into the role and I hope that getting called into the England training squad will accelerate that growth.
A mention, too, for James Harper. I don’t think it’s unfair to say that, earlier in the season, there was a definite feeling of “not living up to his potential” about James’s play. That’s completely gone now – being chucked into the deep end by the injury to Sharkey has done him the world of good, and he’s got to be someone that Borthwick is now keeping a keen eye on.
It was so good to see Tom Curry back on the field, even if I might have preferred to let him rest until September. Mind you, the way he absolutely melted – was it Stuart? I can’t remember – suggests that he’s pretty much recovered and that he’s got a season’s worth of frustration to get rid of. I still hope he doesn’t go on the England summer tour, though.
So there we have it; fought hard, fought well, just couldn’t quite get there. I’m proud to be a supporter of this team, it makes my (adopted) northern heart swell to see what they can – and will – achieve.
an old grey dog 