SOUL MATES
Alex hails Sale’ s fighting spirit
ALEX SANDERSON hailed his side’s northern soul as they overcame four yellow cards to jump to third in the Premiership.
Sale did their best to turn this into a game of rugby league as they went down to 14 and 13 men but somehow pulled off a heist.
Full-back Luke James, hooker Akker van der Merwe, wing Byron Mcguigan and fly-half AJ Mcginty were all binned in 20 second-half minutes for a Premrecord worst for the Sharks.
But the Salford men would not give up and incredibly were still in it at 19-13 down with three minutes on the clock. They got home at the death when lock Josh Beaumont piled over from short range and fly-half Robert du Preez did the rest with the extra two-pointer.
Boss Sanderson said: “The northern grit and the South
African steel got us through. We did not make it easy for ourselves.
“It is unbelievable, I thought we’d sealed the game for Wasps. We’re trying to build belief and hopefully that is a sign of the evolution of this team, we’re starting to build something.”
For Wasps, who had Gabriel Oghre in the bin when Beaumont scored, this was the one that got away and a fifth defeat in six games with the play-offs looking miles off. Boss Lee Blackett said: “We gave ourselves an opportunity to win it. They had plenty of guys in the sin bin in the second half – we were down there and when we are down there we have to take points.
“Top four is going to be difficult and it looks a fair way away. We have to improve.”
With Sale leading 13-10 after 48 minutes James was first off for a high tackle on Wasps wing Josh Bassett.
He may have been slightly unlucky as Bassett slipped into the challenge but there was no doubt about the next one when Van der Merwe joined him for a dangerous high challenge on Wasps centre Michael Le Bourgeois.
The three-timer came up when Mcguigan was yellowed for a deliberate knock-on. Jimmy Gopperth gave Wasps a 16-13 lead from the penalty and Mcginty made it four yellows for another deliberate knock-on but Sale would not lie down.
The visitors went ahead on 12 minutes through Van der Merwe following a line-out move that saw the front-rower pile through Dan Robson for the score.
Wasps hit back with a Gopperth miss-pass that found Bassett and he fed Malakai Fekitoa who went over (right).
Gopperth’s boot put Wasps into the lead amidst the flurry of Sale yellow cards and Wasps got one of their own when sub Gabriel Oghre was binned with Sale camped on the home line. Sale’s big boys shoved Beaumont over then Du Preez sealed it. WASPS: Tries: Fekitoa. Pens: Gopperth (4). Con: Gopperth
SALE: Tries: Van der Merwe, Beaumont. Pens: Du Preez (2) Cons: Du Preez (2)