Five in a row. Fourth in the league. Who’d’a thunk it at the fag end of last season, eh?
(Of course, it should be six from seven, but we’ll gloss over that match down in Bristol, shall we?)
After the games against Trailfinders and Harlequins, I thought they had three more wins in them for the rest of the season. Leicester (I’m sorry to say) was a given, and they ought to beat Bristol, given how they came within a gnat’s of beating them down there. Then I thought that they should manage to get a win against either Luffbra or Exeter.
Now, I’m thinking, “they beat Exeter down there last year, why not again?”
That just leaves Saracens: to which I say, “Stranger things have happened.”
You couldn’t really call this a comfortable win, but, on the other hand, Bristol only scored because of a Sale brain fart, so it wasn’t exactly squeaky bum time, either.
In all, I thought they played like a team carrying the weight of their own expectations. It seemed that they were cramped by twin desires: to keep the streak going, and to right the mistake of six rounds previously.
There was a bit less of the fluency that we’d been getting used to over the past six or seven games (first fifteen minutes of each excepted). Little things: a dropped pass, a missed tackle (84% completion rate – fourth lowest this season), a running line that wasn’t quite as incisive as it could be. I mean, even Katana Howard made four errors that I spotted: that never happens.
Nothing exemplified this not-quite-thereness more than letting the kick-off following the opening try bounce and for Bristol to recover it. That Brizz then went on to score from the resultant possession just underlined the consequences of switching off.
This was doubly annoying as we were well past the now-customary ten minutes of buggering about before waking up and starting to play. They had just started to take charge, culminating in Jarrell-Searcy scoring the first try, converted by Lizzie Duffy.
Having given up the lead a couple of minutes after taking it, they regained the advantage on the half-hour when Shona Campbell walked in an easy try out on the left. Duffy put over an excellent conversion from the touchline to make the score 14-7, where it stayed until half-time.
The second half was looking to be a somewhat frustrating affair, with only two penalties to show for all of Sale’s attacking intent. Then, with time up and the game safely, if unexcitingly, won, Sale were awarded a penalty inside the Bears’ 22. One kick to touch and one all-out maul later, and Katie Childs is falling over the line to add the cherry on the cake. Five in a row and revenge gained.
I’ve probably said more than once that, for me, a successful season this year would see a low-mid table finish, with a few wins as something to build on for next year. I think that, whatever happens in the next two games, we have already seen a more than acceptable season. I’m certainly looking forward to the next one.
Apparently, there was a game down in Exeter the day before. I wouldn’t know – I was watching FC beating Birmingham-Moseley…
an old grey dog 