Searing Sale seal victory

SALE ran riot at Heywood Road yesterday afternoon as they scored eight tries against Otley to remain top of the National League 2 North table.

Despite the scoreline, the visitors had a lot of possession during the match but Sale’s defence was solid throughout.

Two minutes in, Christopher Johnson opened the scoring for the hosts with a penalty, while five minutes later, Sale were awarded a penalty try.

After some good hands and a switch back inside, Andrew Hughes touched over and Johnson scored his conversion to extend Sale’s lead to 17-0.

Winger Sam Stelmaszek added another try following a good one-handed catch to snare a ball that was behind him. Johnson again converted.

Otley did respond thanks to winger Paul Petchey,

who stepped inside Jonty Rawcliffe to score an unconverted try. With half time nearing, the hosts had time to squeeze in two more converted tries, thanks to Jack Moorhouse and Mark Lawrence.

A catch and drive from a lineout allowed Gareth Rawlings to touch over in the corner in the 64th minute, before Sale were then awarded another penalty try after Otley collapsed the scrum.

With a minute left to go, Johnson scored following a good backline move and a little switch, before landing the resulting conversion to make the final score 59-5.