Worcester Warriors 20

Sale Sharks 37

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SALE Sharks romped to a spectacular win in Saturday’s re-arranged Guinness Premiership game at Sixways, giving Kingsley Jones a perfect start against one of his old clubs.

They moved up to third place in the table, with a game in hand on the teams above – Gloucester and London Irish.

The Sharks were the better side in all departments, with Nick Macleod, Lee Thomas, Dwayne Peel and Charlie Hodgson in fine form.

Despite the absence of Sheridan, Cueto and McAlister, the visitors started brightly and took a fourth minute lead through a Hodgson penalty before full back Chris Latham dummied and sliced through a surprisingly weak defence for the first try of the game a minute later. Carlisle converted. The popular Aussie left the field on a stretcher after 16 minutes with spinal shock, and his side lost some of their cutting edge.

Sharks increasingly exploited the gaps in the home defence, and pulled back to 7-6 with a second Hodgson penalty.

Sebastien Chabal had to leave the action with a ‘dead arm’ problem, Jason White making a welcome return, before Hodgson ended a spell of Sharks’ pressure by sending over his third drop goal of the season to snatch a lead that his side would never lose.

The Sharks made the most of a one-man advantage when Horstmann was in the sin bin, amassing thirteen points during his absence.

Chris Jones scored his first try of the season just before the half hour mark after plenty of enterprising Sharks’ passing.

Penalties by Carlisle either side of half time brought the Warriors up to 13-16, but Sharks eased away again thanks to Oriol Ripol, who followed up good work by Mathew Tait to score.

Despite losing Chris Jones after 56 minutes after he had landed awkwardly, the Sharks continued to dominate, putting the game beyond Worcester’s reach eight minutes later when Carlisle allowed Neil Briggs to intercept a pass in defence and score his first senior try in a stunned silence. Former England wing Marcel Garvey scored a fine individual try with five minutes left, Carlisle converting, but the Sharks had the final say with a minute showing on the countdown clock.

Replacement scrum half Richard Wigglesworth jinked his way through the home defence after a scrum, and some dazzling back play was finished off by Chris Bell for the Sharks’ bonus-point fourth try.

Charlie Hodgson sent over his fourth successful conversion out of a seventeen-point total.

After the game, a delighted Kingsley Jones praised his side. “After a rusty start, the set piece was very pleasing, with 100% at our lineouts. We produced some quick ball, and looked really good at times. We kicked with purpose. Overall, a very pleasing day."

Sharks: Macleod; Bell, M.Tait (Keil 61), Thomas, Ripol; Hodgson, Peel (Wigglesworth 65); Faure (Turner 65), Bruno (M.Jones 55), Roberts, Chabal (White 26), Schofield, C.Jones (D.Tait 56), Briggs, Fernandez Lobbe.

Messenger Star Man: Nick Macleod.