Sale turn on second-half show to strike right note
Sale produced a surging second-half display to reassure the team’s owners that Steve Diamond’s squad are making progress after a stuttering autumn. This fifth Premiership win came after a first 40 which had seen Bath amass a 9-6 lead in a match that resembled one of those Christmas crackers which fail to provide any snap.
But the second half was altogether different. Sale, perhaps inspired by the new loud and brash stadium music, danced away to score four tries without reply over a forlorn Bath team who fell away badly. Todd Blackadder, Bath’s director of rugby, was as blunt as a New Zealander can be. “We were c--p. We were c--p,” he stressed in congratulating Sale on a superb second-half display. Blackadder refused to give his team’s endeavours in the European Champions Cup against Toulon as an excuse. “I’m not going to pull that one out. We were poor.”
Simon Orange, the Sale owner, had demanded before the match that he wanted a win to show that his squad – including some expensive recruits led by internationals James O’Connor and Faf de Klerk – were in “good shape” and “just outside the top six” going into Christmas.
Bath cracked twice in four minutes after the break starting when No8 Josh Strauss finished off some sustained pressure. The second try, in the 48th minute, was a beauty made by the slick passing of AJ MacGinty and O’Connor to put Byron McGuigan in at the corner.
O’Connor grabbed the third, following a sweeping move from halfway, while the fourth went to substitute scrum-half Will Cliff after he raced onto a chip ahead.
It was giddy stuff and totally unexpected after a thoroughly mundane first half. Diamond, Sale’s director of rugby, gave the credit for the turnaround to his players for sorting things out at half-time.
Sale made full use of quicker ball and also preyed on Bath’s decision to compensate for the absence of Jonathan Joseph by pairing Freddie Burns and Rhys Priestland in midfield.
Blackadder said Joseph, the England centre, had been rested because of his tough schedule of games while Diamond claimed it had acted as an incentive for his team. He explained: “We knew they had rested a couple of key players and I think if sides do come up to Manchester with that mentality then we have to attempt to put it on them. And I think we managed to deliver that in the second half.”
The first half had been a complete contrast and no place to be a wing. They were thoroughly unemployed in a match dominated by a kicking duel between Priestland and MacGinty.
Bath should have been further ahead than Priestland’s three penalty goals to two by MacGinty. Twice the visitors were held up over the Sale line. Instead, Priestland kicked his first two three-pointers in the opening 11 minutes before MacGinty replied after Bath had made a hash of the restart following the second penalty.
Sale must have felt they were fortunate to be only 6-9 down at half-time, MacGinty landing his second in the 38th minute after Bath had only Priestland’s third effort to show for their spell of sustained pressure.
The second half was a different story. Sale showed the zest that has made them a match for anyone on home territory. The strength of Strauss finished off for the first try before the pace out wide of MacGinty and O’Connor made the second for McGuigan.
Bath tried to get back into the match by changing their front row but Sale had the momentum and further tries by O’Connor and Cliff rammed home the advantage.