Sharks start Anglo-Welsh Cup campaign with victory

SALE began their Anglo-Welsh Cup campaign with a hardfought 24-21 win over Worcester at Sixways.

The Sharks, who were runners-up in 2013 but have never won the competition, led 21-7 at the break but had to withstand a Worcester secondhalf fightback to claim victory.

TJ Ioane, Will Cliff and Ben Curry crossed for a strong Sharks side, with AJ MacGinty converting all three tries and adding a penalty. Worcester’s response came through scores from Michael Dowsett, Ollie Lawrence and Tom Howe, with Tom Heathcote converting two and Sam Olver one.

Cameron Redpath, son of former Scotland scrum-half Bryan, became Sale’s youngestever starter at the age of 17 years and 326 days and his side began strongly to take a sixthminute lead when Ioane finished off a driving line-out.

Worcester were level within minutes when from their first attack of the match a flowing move saw Dowsett go over.

Sharks got their noses back in front when Curry burst away from a maul on the Worcester 22 to provide Cliff with the scoring pass.

With the last move of the half, Sale extended their interval advantage to 14 points.Curry again made the initial break with neat contributions coming from Cliff and MacGinty before Curry finished things off to score their third try.

The home side continued to make frequent handling errors but ill-discipline from Sale - six penalties conceded in 16 minutes - gifted their opponents a platform in their own 22. The Warriors lacked the accuracy to capitalise but eventually the referee’s patience was exhausted and Sale prop James Flynn was yellow-carded for another scrum offence.

Worcester took advantage of the front-rower’s absence to score their second try when a speculative kick ahead from Heathcote led to Lawrence scoring. MacGinty’s late penalty put further daylight between the sides and that proved crucial as Warriors went over again through Howe’s lastminute converted try to earn a bonus point.