That was a closer finish than was good for my mental and physical well-being.
Would it be churlish to say that my initial thoughts when queuing for the bus back to the Trafford Centre were “we shouldn’t have gifted them those two bonus points”? We were sixteen points ahead with eight minutes to go: to then be genuinely worried that an “eighty-plus-n” score would take it away from us was hard to stomach.
On later reflection, I came around to the idea that we’d done extremely well, considering the number of missing first-choice players. Not that that excuses flinging out an interceptable pass with a couple of minutes to go; but a lot of guys stood up and faced up to a Gloucester whirlwind and came out on top. That gives me hope for the future.
Given that we started with only two nailed-on forwards (I’d start SiMac for certain games but he’s not nailed-on, and Asher will be the out-and-out first choice, just not yet), the scrum, lineout and breakdowns held up really well. Yes, we had Josh’s wise old head in there helping to run things but guys like Ben Bamber and Sam Dugdale showed a game maturity beyond their experience.
Mind you, things started a bit gloomily as Gloucester’s avowed intent to pass and run at every opportunity threatened, on several occasions, to pull Sale’s defence apart and, eventually, culminated in Tomos Williams’s try six minutes in.
But the defence started to adapt and Gloucester started going more sideways than forwards. Then, ten minutes after going behind, the ball went wide to Roebs who picked it up on the bounce and scored in the corner. One touchline conversion later and we were ahead, where we’d stay (just) for the rest of the game.
Gloucester kept up the harum-scarum running and passing game but Sale’s defence just kept pushing them back with dominant tackles coming in thick and fast. It’s all very well running in tries for fun when playing a team that has no real defence to speak of but when they’ve figured out your patterns and are capable of smashing you backwards…
Look at the stats for this game and, if you didn’t know the score, you’d think that Gloucester dominated it and must surely have won comfortably. (While you’re at it, do the same exercise with the New Zealand v England WXV game on the Sunday. Same conclusion, same error. Stats ain’t everything.)
As with Saracens the week before, the disparity between the scoreline and the actual degree of dominance was skewed in the last few minutes. In both cases, late scores against a tiring Sale led to results that were (in my completely unbiased opinion) unrepresentative of the match as a whole. Yes, Gloucester were very inventive and chucked the ball about and offloaded and looked very slick, but they were getting nowhere until a rogue bounce left a hole for their second try. And their fourth came (eventually) from an interception of a pass that should never have been attempted.
And so it was, with Gloucester throwing it around but getting nowhere and Sale taking what scraps of possession they could. And it was one of those scraps that saw Roebs burst through the Gloucester line after a bullocking run from Bedlow. The sweeper defence was there to stop him but also there was Gus, doing what good scrummies do and being available to finish off the easy run-in and take all the glory. Just like he did against Saracens, come to think of it…
Keep it up Gus; I don’t care who touches it down as long as someone does.
Gloucester pulled back a penalty on the stroke of half time and we went into the break with a six-point advantage, proving the dictum that stats are all very well but the only thing that really counts is points on the scoreboard.
Sale seemed to have caught the touch rugby bug during the interval and they started the second half all guns blazing, taking Gloucester’s game plan back to them. This all resulted in Roebs getting his second try from an easy walk-in after Arron had run around the defence and drawn the last man.
About ten minutes into the half, Sale wheeled on what was either a small tor from Dartmoor or Le Roux Roets; I’m still not sure anyone can tell the difference.
Williams pulled seven points back for Gloucester but when LCD, the well-known hooker and part-time winger, scored Sale’s fourth and fifth tries (the latter through a gap on the touchline that would have had Abby Dow blinking—in the retelling…), it seemed that we should be home and safe.
But Gloucester, to their credit, kept at it against a Sale team that were visibly tiring and scored two late tries to get them to four points behind. There was still enough time for Sale to have to restart the game and we had a couple of minutes of squeaky bum time, where we could all envisage Gloucester breaking through for a late winner.
It didn’t happen: the game ended, we’d got five much-needed points and could start to look toward the next challenge.
It seems unfair to single anyone out from this performance. Arron Reed was awarded player of the match, probably for the way he chased Anscombe Atkinson the length of the pitch and then hauled Barton back by his shorts to prevent an almost certain try, if for nothing else. Tackling Charlie Atkinson into touch to end the game also helped…
Everyone who came on played their part. Yes, mistakes were made but aren’t they always? I’m not going to dwell on it because the important thing is that we won. We held on, weathered the storm and came out on top. I’m actually a bit more miffed that their late scores have left us with a horribly negative points difference; although it’s only two worse than Saints, and they’re not panicking.
Looking forward, it’s Newcastle next. Dimes is going to want his team to make a statement soon and where better to make it than his old stomping ground? I can imagine an extra frisson surrounding this game but we simply have to win it and win it well. We have to want this more than they do and they’ll want it a lot.
With luck, we’ll have two sets of twins and a lanky Saffa back in the mix and raring to go. That should help, although it would be harsh on the guys who played against Gloucester if they came straight back in. On the other hand, if Ben and Tom are fit, how can you leave them out? If Hyron’s fit, I’m guessing that Josh will drop back to the bench.
I’ve got a lot of time for Dugdale and Birch but would you really choose them over a fit Curry or Du Preez? They may still decide to keep Tom in a bit of cotton wool, and Dan may not be quite ready yet, but would you pass up a back row of Ernie, Ben and J-L?
I’d keep the Du Preez/Bedlow axis, with Will outside, if fit. I’m excited about Nayacalevu, but he’s not living up to the promise yet. Time to step up to the mark, I think.
SAMP™ suggests the win:
| Sale | Newcastle | |
|---|---|---|
| SAMP-5 | 36 | 17 |
| SAMP-10 | 28 | 18 |
I’ll take 36-17 because we need the bonus point but we also need—sorry, Dimes—a big margin. I don’t want to see us in the top four with a negative points difference again.
an old grey dog 