Well, that’s another one that ended up worse than I hoped for but better than I feared.
Last week’s win at Quins may have had a slightly flattering scoreline, but there were definite signs that there are good things to come, given a future lack of injury crisis and the arrival of new blood.
Mind you, Gloucester’s performance against Exeter the same weekend suggested that they were a bit further along the path of regaining their Mojo than we are.
Before watching that game, I was hopeful that we had a chance of a rare win at Kingsholm. After watching them put in a performance which was worth more than a three-point margin, though, I was less hopeful and feared a significant defeat, unless a few miraculous recoveries were on the cards.
In the event, we got the welcome return of Luke James in the backs, but the mooted possible early recovery of Tom Curry did not materialise.
They say that forwards decide who wins, and the backs decide by how many. This game certainly provided evidence for the first half of that aphorism.
When you have two props of 20 and 21 – even though one of them is a prodigious talent – up against the likes of Fasogbon and Rapava-Ruskin, only an eternal optimist would bet on the youngsters.
That is in no way to be seen as any sort of criticism of McEachran or Longbottom (we all know that Asher is pretty useful). As I think I pointed out last week, they may be getting bullied by more experienced players now, but they are gaining valuable experience points for the next and subsequent seasons.
But the fact remains that we were bullied up front. The scrum regularly went backwards. We were out-rucked and gave up the ball too easily, giving Gloucester the edge throughout most of the match.
And yet…
As with last week, there was much here to give some hope for the future. Building on last week, there was a definite intent to move the ball through the backs rather than kick it away every three phases.
Ok, maybe those moves weren’t quite as slick as some other teams, but this is a change of tactic for Sale, and it’s going to take a while to bed in. Better to do that now, when there’s very little at stake, than at the start of next season when there’s all to play for.
Let’s be clear: I’m not happy with how this season has gone. We can’t blame all the poor performances on injuries, unexpected departures and upheavals.
Those trials and tribulations have certainly exacerbated things, but it cannot be denied that this has been an awful season: far below the standards that we expect from a team that should be pushing for top four, and has been regularly.
But these things happen, and I’m not going to start throwing the toys out of the pram over one poor season.
Because, despite Gloucester’s superiority, we came within one debatable decision of scraping a win. Had that late counter-ruck been rewarded, or had the challenge on Dom Hanson been deemed illegal for no arms, then the result would’ve been completely different, and we would be some 10 points clear of them, not three.
I’ve seen some criticism of George Ford for kicking the ball downfield after he’d given us the one-point lead. However, I remember thinking to myself at the time that what we now needed to do was keep Gloucester away from our try line for five minutes, and it seemed to me that judicious use of kicks for territory would help achieve that goal.
We got done in that last five minutes because Gloucester capitalised on a small error (and because we weren’t good enough in the set piece for the preceding seventy-five), not because George Ford has a bit of a clue about how to manage tight games.
Don’t drop that ball; they don’t score, it’s that simple.
The stand-out player, once again, was Flats: he was chasing everything, getting stuck in and scoring a pure poacher’s try.
Close behind, or perhaps alongside, was Jacques Vermeulen. I thought he had one of his best performances in a Sale shirt.
Alfie Longstaff continues to impress, even if the line-out wobbled a bit this week.
Also, shout-outs for Ralph McEachran, Seb Kelly, Tristan Woodman and Wills Austin for responding to the team’s need. It’s no disgrace to be bullied by those bigger, more mature and more experienced than you. Be proud that you stood there and took it and came out with your heads held high.
With Leicester up next, we could do with some good news. Would it be too much to hope for a bit of Curry on the menu? Do you really think that Gloucester would’ve got half those turnovers if there had been a Curry on the prowl?
You have to imagine that a win this week is unlikely. But still we hope: it would certainly signal that things are coming together.
In theory, Gloucester could go above us next week, pushing us out of the seventh place that we’ve held for the last twelve rounds. It does mean that they have to beat Saracens away, though.
So, even if we don’t beat Leicester, we stay seventh, and then it’s away to Newcastle to consolidate it. Given the hiding Quins gave them, a failure to take five points from that game would have to be considered to be somewhat worse than an abject failure.
Which just leaves Bristol at home in the final round. That’s a funny one: we generally have the measure of Bristol when they come to Salford, but our depleted squad might just struggle this year. Still, I’d put the chances of a win against Bristol a bit higher than against Tigers this week.
an old grey dog 