Quickfire brace sees Sale cruise past Dale
SALE remain top of the table following a comprehensive victory over fellow high-flyers Tynedale at Heywood Road.
Two quickfire tries from Matthew Bradley, Jonty Rawcliffe and Tom Ailes mean Sale are now four points clear at the top of the league.
And forwards coach Garry Rawlins was delighted with the way his side avenged their defeat to Tynedale earlier in the season.
“We knew it was going to be a tough battle after coming off the win against Hinckley the other week,” Rawlins said.
“Tynedale are a decent side but we just picked up where we left off last week and the lads applied themselves in quite appalling conditions.
“It is nice to get a win against them. We thought we let ourselves down at their place earlier in the season, so it was nice to turn it round and just work hard basically.”
The first 10 minutes of the match were even, with neither team on top.
After 13 minutes, the home side were awarded a penalty and this was converted by Sale’s fly-half Chris Johnson.
The match remained even for the next 10 minutes but Sale were keeping Tynedale pinned in their own half.
On 23 minutes, this pressure paid off as Tynedale’s laps in concentration allowed Sale’s number nine, Bradley, to get through a gap and score under the post, Johnson scored his conversion.
With the score at 10-0 to Sale, the hosts’ relentless pressure paid off as three minutes later, a piece of brilliance from Rawcliffe, who reached his own up and under to touch over, Johnson again scored his conversion to extend the lead to 17-0.
Two minutes to go until half-time, a penalty scrum for holding on against Tynedale meant Johnson was able to add another conversion to his tally.
Tynedale came out of the break the better side. They were trying to move the ball as much as they could but Sale showed their consistent form and defended brilliantly.
On the hour mark, Tom Ailes, who had been on the pitch for a matter of seconds, picked the ball up from a scrum and left every Tynedale player in his wake as he touched over. Johnson added yet another conversion to the score.
Five minutes later, Sale extended the lead to 34-0 following a penalty try after a couple of penalties awarded, the referee gave a penalty try.
With the game nearing its end, Sale began to switch off and this resulted in two late tries for the visitors.
Good passing from Tynedale saw substitute Jake Rodgers touch over but the final play of the game resulted in another substitute, Guy Pike, scoring a try following a quick tap and go.
Tynedale had got the better of Sale 7-5 earlier in the campaign but that sort of result never looked likely thanks to Sale’s firsthalf display.