Sale Sharks lose to Saints (From Messenger Newspapers)

Sale Sharks lose to Saints

3:24pm Monday 1st February 2010

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Sale Sharks 14

Northampton Saints 20

by Fred Harvey

DESPITE a spirited second half revival, Sale Sharks could not recover from being seventeen points behind against a rampant Northampton Saints side in Friday’s LV= Cup match.

Making matters worse, there was the galling sight of former Shark Chris Mayor carving his way through a non-existent home defence for the opening try with only three minutes on the clock. Myler converted, then added a penalty 11 minutes later to make it 10-nil.

Despite Sharks having a one-man advantage following a yellow card for visiting flanker Best after a high tackle on Chris Jones, there was no further scoring up to half time as the Saints played simple, attacking rugby.

The Sharks’ ball handling was sloppy in comparison, and the knock-ons mounted.

Sharks conceded their customary early second half try, when Bishop lost possession in his own 22, allowing Diggin to scuttle over the line for a converted try.

Sharks relied on forward power to set up scoring opportunities near the visitors’ line, and they finally broke their duck after 55 minutes when Charlie Hodgson twisted his way over for his first try of the season, which he converted.

The excellent Myler added a further penalty for the Saints before the Sharks continued their bombardment. Carl Fearns and Marc Jones featured in waves of attacks, but it was giant number 8 Sisa Koyamaibole who peeled away from a scrum with five minutes to go for his fifth try of the season, Hodgson adding the extras.

The Sharks had an attacking lineout with two minutes left which they won, but a knock on followed to dash their hopes of snatching the game.

Despite the defeat, Sharks travel to Bath on Saturday still with an outside chance of making the semi-finals if they can pull off an impressive win against Steve Meehan’s struggling team, and if Leicester Tigers and Saracens lose to Northampton Saints and Ospreys respectively.

At Carrington on Saturday afternoon, the Sharks Academy side drew 19-19 with Leicester Tigers Academy. The young side were by far the more impressive team and were seven points clear with a minute to go, thanks to tries from Tom Brady and Adam Birchall (2), Mark Atkinson converting twice.

Their hopes of victory were ruined by a late try from Tigers’ winger Connor Smith, which was converted by George Ford, who had earlier sent over four penalties.

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