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Bath 11 – 12 Sale
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By
Shaun Wren
Sale
Sharks gave themselves a huge boost and a chance of reaching the
play-offs whilst damaging Bath’s hopes in the process, after this
narrow win at The Rec.
Mike
Ford was left frustrated with referee Dean Richards, after he denied
them a penalty try after eight scrums saying,
"We
had 16 minutes scrummaging from penalties and he still didn’t go
behind the sticks, which is beyond belief to me."
The
West Country side went into this game all smiles as they celebrated
fullback Nick Abendanon’s 200th
first team cap and knowing a win would move them further towards
reaching the play-offs for the first time in four years.
However
the Salford side were going into this game pumped, after beating
Northampton last weekend. But before the kick-off, the Sharks had
to make two changes, as Captain Dan Braid couldn’t shake off the
dead leg he picked up in training and Mark Cueto was ruled out.
This meant Rob Miller moved to the wing, Jonathan Mills went to the
second row moving Michael Paterson into the back row.
It
was Steve Diamond’s men who got the first points of the game, with
Danny Cipriani kicking a penalty on the seventh minute; but the lead
didn’t last long as his opposite number, George Ford, drew level
four minutes after.
Yet
throughout the first half, Sale looked to be more comfortable and
gaining confidence, as Mike Ford’s troops couldn’t break the Sale
defence. They were continually making handling errors in important
areas of play. The away side were dominating in the scrum and with
Cipriani kicking two more penalties, the Sharks led 3-9 after 23
minutes.
Ford
did have the chance to draw the game level before half-time but he
was only able to kick one of his two penalties.
HT
6-9
Sale
continued from their impressive first half as number 8, James
Gaskell, went on a great run from the scrum but wasn’t able to
offload and with Cipriani converting another penalty, Sale now had a
firm lead.
After
Ford missed another chance to close the gap, then came the big
talking point, as referee Richards didn’t award a penalty try,
after 18 minutes of scrum battling.
It
then looked like Leroy Houston had scored and referee Richards
consulted the TMO, but it wasn’t clear and so the scrummaging
continued, to the annoyance of the fans.
It
was a long and very drawn out battle which saw Sale replacement prop,
Henry Thomas, sin binned. But the hosts still couldn’t find a way
through and the Bath fans made their voices heard towards Mr
Richards.
Bath
continued to put the pressure on Sale and with six minutes to go Ford
declined the chance to kick the points and instead kicked for touch.
Then a minute later, the home side found the breakthrough as Ross
Batty focused his way through with a driving maul for the first try
of the game.
Ford
had the chance to win the game for Bath but missed his conversion and
two late drop goals.
This
victory sealed a crucial win for the Sharks in their pursuit for the
top four.
A
huge win for Sale and huge disappointment for Bath as the visitors
were the better side throughout the two halves. Bath now need to go
and win their last few games otherwise they’ll lose out to Sale who
are now on a roll!