DRAWS in Rugby Union are somewhat of a rarity these days, but in a titanic struggle at Heywood Road last week, the Sharks shared the spoils with a lively London Irish.

Under clear blue skies, the near capacity crowd, along with a live TV audience witnessed an epic struggle between two of the most exciting teams in the Premiership, writes Cec Lowry.

With both sides noted for their willingness to play open attractive rugby, supporters were not disappointed although many left with ragged fingernails as both sides struggled to get that one score which would have tipped the balance.

Early exchanges saw play seesaw backwards and forwards with fly halves Charlie Hodgson and Barry Everitt exchanging a series of penalties.

Gradually the Irish began to exert a stranglehold on the game, pinning the Sharks back in their own 22 with wave after wave of attacks and despite heroic defence, the Sharks eventually buckled under the pressure allowing giant lock Ryan Strudwick to cross for a try wide out.

Everitt converted to leave the Irish 16 - 3 ahead with only minutes of the first half remaining. The Sharks threw everything into the last few minutes of the half with a series of concerted forward drives but they failed to break down a resolute Irish defence.

The second half saw a revitalised Sharks drag themselves back into the game through a series of forward efforts, with the back row of Pinkerton, Angelsea and Perelini to the fore. As usual Fullarton and Lines in the engine room, provided a platform allowing Hodgson to close the gap on a determined Irish outfit to only 7 points with an excellent penalty.

Further sustained Sharks pressure pinned Irish in their own 22 and from a line out close to the line Scottish international scrum half Bryan Redpath, making his return to the side after injury, fed Hodgson, who sublimely drew two players to send centre Mel Deane in under the posts for a try. Hodgson's boot again provided the extra two points to level the scores with ten minutes left on the clock.

Referee John Barnard, who had incurred the wrath of the home fans for most of the match with his decisions, left the field with a leg injury to their obvious delight with senior touch judge Steve Savage taking over the whistle.

With time running out and the crowd on the edge of their seats, the Sharks took the lead for only the second time in the match, with another Hodgson penalty after some good work by the league's leading try score Steve Hanley. Irish responded immediately as Apollo Perelini gave away a somewhat dubious penalty at the restart for obstruction, Everett again splitting the posts to leave the scores once again tied. The nail-biting 7 or so minutes of injury time saw both sides striving for that single score to seal the game but it was not be.

With both teams trying to close the gap on leaders Leicester a draw was probably a fair reflection of the game as both coaches admitted afterwards.

'Sale are always a very difficult team to beat especially up here. We are happy to go away with two points but we were disappointed we did not put more points on the board in the first half' said Irish team Manager Conor O'Shea.

Sharks coach Jim Mallinder was also happy with the two points 'I was delighted the way we played in the last 30 minutes of game, we showed some great character and team spirit. We gave away too many penalties for ill discipline and we need to look at that' he said.

The Sharks entertain Harlequins in the 6th round of the Powergen Cup at Heywood Road this Saturday, with a 2pm kick-off.

Sharks: Robinson, Cueto, Baxendell, Deane, Hanley, Hodgson, Redpath, Yates (Black), Titterell (Marais), Turner, Fullerton, Lines, Perelini, Pinkerton (capt), Angelsea.