Battling Cardiff grab magnificent triumph
ON A night of high emotion, Cardiff marked the death of their Life President Peter Thomas with a magnificent win over a fully-loaded high-flying Sale.
Thomas passed away earlier in the week at the age of 79 with Cardiff honouring his legacy by renaming their South Stand after him and he would have been proud of the tremendous effort displayed by his beloved Blue and Blacks.
Cardiff had heroes everywhere, unsung ones in props, Corey Domachowski and Keiron Assiratti, and regular high achievers in Taulupe Faletau and Rhys Priestland. Jarrod Evans showed what Wales may have missed in the Six Nations with some moments of magic while Josh Adams was back to his best which saw him rewarded with two tries.
Sale contributed fully to the entertainment with George Ford as polished as ever but the probable loss of No.8, Dan du Preez, for the business end of the season with a shoulder injury could be a massive blow.
Cardiff suffered an early blow when a dazed
Lopeti Timani was led off within two minutes and twice they came close to conceding the opening try. First the hosts overthrew a lineout to Ben Curry, who was dragged down inches short, before Joe Carpenter was held up over the line when Sharks should have capitalised on a strong run from Tom O’Flaherty.
Cardiff relieved the pressure and were awarded two scrum penalties, the second of which Evans kicked to gave his side the lead. That advantage was short-lived as Sale’s hooker, Akker van der Merwe, proved unstoppable from a close-range lineout but Cardiff responded in style.
A long pass from Tomos Williams gave Mason Grady the space to power along the touchline. The centre fed Thomas Young, who made ground, before Domachowski was sent crashing over. Evans converted before Assirrati was penalised for not releasing so Ford tied the scores.
Cardiff regained the lead with another superb try. A brilliantly delayed pass from Evans sent Priestland through a huge gap with the full-back providing Adams with an easy 30m run-in.
The Sale front row against Cardiff’s two second-choice props were surprisingly taking a hammering in the setpiece, conceding numerous penalties as the home side chose a succession of scrums.
It paid dividends as Sale collapsed again but their opponents still benefited when a well-judged crossfield kick from Evans was collected by Adams for his second try with Nick
Schonert sin-binned for the collapse.
Evans converted and his side held a deserved 22-10 half-time lead having gained 58 per cent of the possession and 56 per cent of the territory.
With a minute of the restart, the visitors had conceded another scrum penalty and this time Priestland hammered home the kick from longrange.
Schonert returned from the sin-bin with no further damage to the scoreboard and in time to see his pride produce their best move to date, which culminated in Tom Roebuck evading Priestland’s tackle to score.
With the game now in the balance, Cardiff brought on their international props but they immediately conceded a scrum penalty for Ford to make it a one-score game with a 35m kick.
With 17 minutes left, Sale regained the lead when Ford converted a try from Ewan Ashman, which resulted from a driving lineout but they suffered an injury blow when Dan du Preez departed with a nasty-looking injury.
A simple penalty from Evans put his side back in front and they held on for a famous victory to secure a quarter-final game against Benetton next weekend.