‘Clinical’ Sale pressure on Heap the the Rams
THE National League One title race has intensified as Sale FC closed the gap to league-leaders Rams to just one point with a decisive victory over them.
Sale director Jonathan Keep told The Rugby Paper exclusively: “I am pleased with how we played today. We were clinical when we needed to be and performed to a good standard in attack and defence.
“Getting the five-point win and keeping them to just two tries, which not many teams have managed to do.
“It was hard for me to select a man of the match today with a lot of players putting in great performances. However, I’d probably go with Tom Walsh. He scored our important first try and made several crucial breaks and tackles throughout the game.”
Keep added: “They’re a very good side and we had to be at our best. We had to be patient at times, but we got the job done and it’s onto the next.”
Sale have two remaining games in their schedule, with the first being an away match against Rosslyn Park and the second being a home game against Birmingham Moseley.
Meanwhile, Rams will be defending their narrow lead with a home match against Cinderford, before finishing off their season with an away game against Esher.
After a fast-paced and exciting opening, the hosts conceded the first try of the game to James McRae, who ran 50 metres to cross the try line. The conversion by Alex Seers was on target, giving the visitors a 7-0 lead. Sale staged a comeback and took advantage of the Rams’ No.8 Robbie Stapley being sin-binned for a high tackle on Tom Curtis. With a man advantage, Sale managed to level the score when their key player Walsh finished a beautifully executed back move, which Curtis converted.
The home side continued to dominate with an extra man, and despite a loose attacking lineout, full-back Tom Brady managed to pick up the ball and offload to Ben Bamber, who powered over the try line.
Curtis successfully converted again, taking
Sale’s lead to 14-7 at halftime, leaving everything still to play for in the second half.
Despite dominating possession and territory, it took until the 58th minute for the hosts to add their third try when hooker Josh Brown scored his 20th try of the season from a line-out drive with Curtis again converting, 21-7.
Seven minutes later Sale secured the try-scoring bonus point when speedster Neville Edwards superbly converted a bouncing ball to run in from 55 yards with Curts again adding the extras. The visitors managed to score a try after 73 minutes, giving themselves a glimmer of hope, as centre Ellis Jones broke through the opposition’s defense to score.
However, Sale’s James Robins ensured the win with the host’s fifth try late in the game, with Curtis maintaining his perfect record by converting all five tries for Sale.