Sharks rip Bears apart to go second in the Premiership
THIS may have begun as third versus second in the Premiership table, but it was a mismatch, because a fully locked-and-loaded Sale side were already home and dry after scoring a bonus point try in the 31st minute against a second string Bristol.
In that respect, it was a good thing there was no crowd, because, for a top professional league, nocontests like this do not merit fans handing over cash at the turnstiles.
It highlighted the main problem with this Premiership restart, which is that now there is the requirement to play midweek matches, most clubs do not have the reserve strength to compete against opponents who pick their top teams.
The only exceptions at the moment are league leaders Exeter – whose B team beat Bristol’s best outfit at Ashton Gate in midweek – and relegated Saracens.
What this encounter at the AJ Bell showed clearly is that after making 13 changes from that match, Bristol’s B team are not in that category.
Bristol did not lack commitment at any stage, typified when James Dun, who was making his Premiership debut at flanker after graduating from the Bristol academy, nailed England star Tom Curry with a crunching tackle early on.
However, it was a fleeting cameo, because otherwise they came a distant second in the contact, and the contest.
The Sale procession started with Luke James opening the scoring after six minutes from a neat backhand pass from No.8 Dan du Preez.
They crossed the whitewash again almost immediately when a scudding pass by Bristol fly-half Tiff Eden was snapped up by Denny Solomona, who raced in from halfway, and with AJ McGinty kicking both conversions it was 14-0.
Eden’s fortunes did not improve when he was turned-over – and as Sale whipped the ball wide to Solomona, Manu Tuilagi took over.
The England centre smuggled the ball off Solomona as he took contact, and, taking off down the touchline, shrugged off a tackler before passing inside to Jean-Luc du-Preez. It was a formality as Faf de Klerk took the lock’s offload to race in, and with McGinty adding the extras, Sale led 21-0.
Then, just after the halfhour, Sam James scored Sale’s fourth try, making the most of a counterattack by Marland Yarde, Luke James, Tom Curry, and Solomona.
After McGinty missed the touchline conversion, Bristol had a rare successful foray when Alapati Leuia intercepted a lofted pass by the Sale fly-half, and had enough pace to score from halfway.
Although Eden kicked the conversion it left Bristol trailing 26-7 at the
interval, and there was no respite as Sale racked up two further tries to give them their eventual winning margin by the 53rd minute.
Luke James bagged his second touchdown when Springbok World Cup winner De Klerk’s laserbeam pass picked out his brother Sam, before McGinty put him clear. De Klerk’s creative mood continued when his flicked inside pass to Yarde saw the winger make it a Sale half dozen.
McGinty’s conversions put the seal on a lopsided win which saw Sale leapfrog Bristol to to go second, reversing their pre-match standings.