Sanderson’s delight at Sale’s fight in Bears win
ALEX Sanderson wants his Sale Sharks side to take confidence from their resilient 25-20 victory over Bristol Bears.
A competitive first half at the AJ Bell Stadium saw momentum swing both ways, though the visitors rallied to hold a two-point advantage at the interval, largely thanks to Piers O’Conor’s two converted tries.
Yet Jean-Luc du Preez’s second-half try, coupled with his brother Rob’s conversion and earlier penalty, powered the hosts to a seventh win of the season.
Sale sit second in the Gallagher Premiership table with only Saracens ahead of them and Sanderson believes Saturday’s victory provides another huge boost.
He said: “You can really use that confidence. We talked about the kind of team we are. We said before the game: ‘No words, actions.’ Those were the actions.
“That’s what typifies what kind of team we are going forward and we can dig in like that when your back’s against the wall and scrap it out for each other.
“We’ll use it (confidence from the game) and we’ll show it a few times maybe next week and keep building on that. I try not to make it too emotional at half-time and I have in the past. We said at half-time: ‘Right, we want to keep hold of what we’re doing within the kicking game because it worked really well.’
“We said: ‘Keep bringing them to the fight and make it contestable’ and where we can we connect on those kicking duels because we’re winning them. After that it was just about keeping the energy, don’t get deenergised.
“We were losing by two points when we probably felt like we should be winning and that frustration takes a yard off you.” Sale kept Bristol largely under the cosh for the opening stages and Tom Roebuck had a try disallowed in the seventh minute. But after three Sale mauls, Sharks broke the deadlock as Rob du Preez skipped in for the try.
However, on Bears’ second attack, O’Conor found space on the right wing and broke free to bring the scores level.
Sale were quick to respond in the 23rd minute when Roebuck followed a Rob du Preez kick and touched down after snatching the ball in the air from Charles Piutau.
Rob du Preez edged his side further ahead with a penalty as momentum swung Sale’s way, but after some sloppy play Bears’ Luke Morahan broke to the try-line and, despite being tackled, the ball was sprayed to O’Conor who had an easy run-in.
And Bristol went into half-time with a two-point advantage after AJ MacGinty scored a penalty. He added another penalty after the break, but Sale responded with their own penalty two minutes later through Rob du Preez.
In the 68th minute, a Sale maul drove over the line where the TMO eventually awarded Jean-Luc du Preez a try to swing the scores in Sharks’ favour.
Sanderson’s side refused to let Bristol through in the 75th minute as their stubborn defensive guard pushed Bristol into touch in the in-goal area.