No ordinary Joe shows his England class
COKANASIGA SENDS MESSAGE
BATH 42 SALE 24 JOE COKANASIGA served up another reminder to England head coach Steve Borthwick with two tries as Bath jumped to second place in the Premiership.
Cokanasiga, who could have had a hat-trick but for a last-minute fumble, helped Bath close to within two points of leaders Northampton.
But eighth-placed Sale are struggling to make the play-offs after their fourth Premiership loss on the spin.
Cokanasiga, 26, has not been capped since England’s first World Cup warm-up match against Wales in August.
But the wing gave notice he could still be an international force, despite winning just 15 caps since his 2018 debut, after notching his 10th try in his past nine games for Bath.
His club head coach, Johann van Graan, said: “He is such an incredible rugby player because he loves it.
“He is back to playing well, training hard and improving his all-round game. We had a lot of very good performances but that was class from him. Look at how his aerial game has improved, his defence – and he can finish.”
Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson refused to write off his side’s chances of making the play-offs despite their poor run.
He said: “The intent is to win every game.
“You have to go into the finals, if you get there, with momentum, but the reality is, with everyone playing each other, you probably need to win only four.
“If you need to win four, you can win your home games and snatch one away”
Bath’s Scotland fly-half Finn Russell used his brains and boots with the game level at 24-24 going into the final quarter, with Ollie Lawrence in the sin-bin.
He opted to kick one penalty then nailed his first Premiership drop goal to nudge Bath ahead, despite being a man down.
Russell’s quickfire six points gave Bath the edge before they brought the hammer down, with hooker Tom Dunn driving home from a line-out for the bonus-point score.
Then Lawrence finished off a move after wing Will Muir gave him a back-of-the-hand pass. Cokanasiga’s late fumble was the only blemish on Bath’s day.
BATH – Tries: Gallagher, Cokanasiga (2), Dunn, Lawrence. Cons: Russell (4). Pens: Russell (2). DG: Russell.
SALE – Tries: Tuilagi, Roebuck, Dugdale; Cons: Ford (3); Pen: Ford.