POLA BLAST
Power-packed and classy... more of this and Billy could come in out of cold for England
Saracens 25
BY ADAM HATHAWAY BILLY VUNIPOLA returned from injury to ruin Alex Sanderson’s homecoming party as Saracens went back to second in the Premiership.
The No.8 got one over former Saracens assistant Sanderson, who left to become Sale boss in January, with a powerpacked performance and one touch of class.
The 29-year-old has been out of action with a knee injury since October 31 and helped expose 14-man Sale for the game-breaking try.
Sale wing Byron McGuigan was redcarded after 45 minutes for a mindless attack on Nick Tompkins when the visitors had twice been denied tries by the home defence.
He grabbed Tompkins from behind and threw him to the ground (above) and continued to tussle as the pair were on the floor.
Four minutes after McGuigan’s dismissal Sean Maitland took a 15-metre pass from Vunipola to score on his vacant wing and make it 18-0.
Sanderson said: “Byron trains at UFC on his time off, so maybe he had a flash-back of some sort of ultimate fighting session he’s done. I haven’t spoken to him.
“The emotion, the occasion, the fact we hadn’t scored – I was feeling that too – probably got the better of him.”
Vunipola was out of favour with England even before his injury but more of this and Eddie Jones could be having another look. “He was really good again
P 8 8 8 8 9 8 9 8 8 9 8
W 8 6 5 5 5 4 2 4 3 3 3
D 0 1 0 0 0 1 3 1 0 1 0
L F A Pts 0 263 136 37 1 290 147 31 3 233 185 28 3 237 206 25 4 211 180 24 3 212 216 23 4 239 255 21 3 153 162 20 5 198 207 17 5 195 207 17 5 163 229 14 and it’s a series of games he’s put together for the club all season,” said Mark McCall, Saracens director of rugby. “He’s been inspirational for us all the way through. Eddie has just asked him to keep on backing up performances and he certainly did that.” Saracens, missing Jamie George and Owen Farrell, led 13-0 at the break but McGuigan’s moment of madness seemed to give Sale renewed energy. They scored through Ben Curry and Raffi Quirke, bookending a superb team try from Saracens finished by Max Malins. Alex Goode was the brains behind that, twisting to pass and let Malins run through unopposed. SARACENS: Tries: Koch, Maitland, Malins; Cons: Lozowski 2; Pens: Lozowski 2
SALE: Tries: B Curry, Quirke; Cons: MacGinty 2