by Sharks Sale 22 Saracens 20
The wild celebrations at the final whistle told their own story. Nothing will fully make up for the pain of last season’s Premier League final defeat against Saracens, but this bleak defeat provided Sale Sharks with a small yet significant measure of redemption.
The only minor dampener in the win which extends Sale’s lead at the top of the Gallagher Premiership was the sight of England center Manu Tuilagi leading off with a groin injury early in the second half. “He felt it and called the physio so I can imagine it’s going to be pretty serious if he called the physio over it,” said Alex Sanderson, Sale’s director of rugby. “Usually you have to pull it off. It’s a cause for concern.”
It’s also a concern for England head coach Steve Borthwick and the Six Nations less than six weeks away, especially with Tuilagi’s long and complicated history with groin injuries.
Although the 2023 final replay was another George Ford v Owen Farrell contest, the most influential figure was Dorian West, Sale’s starting coach. ‘Nobby’ sausage-like fingers were all over Sale’s complete dominance of the scrum and scrum, which provided the platform for their three tries.
Saracens have rarely been bullied so comprehensively in such areas and the introduction of tight end Asher Okopu-Fordjour further turned the screw with Mark McCall’s side conceding seven penalties at the scrum.
Ben Curry was also excellent in the open box and try scorer Tom Roebuck showed his international credentials with a powerful finish. With the remnants of Storm Pia still in the air, it was a match with high winds and higher kicks. Some of Ford and Farrell’s bombs began to push back in the conditions which hindered ambition or indeed accuracy.
The sale should have put Saracens away earlier. Hurlers Agustin Creevy and Luke Cowan-Dickie both scored from what could easily have been power in the stands and Roebuck scored a superb first-class try.
From a scrum, Sam Bedlow pulled the ball back to Ford who beat Roebuck in the face. The strength to run three Saracens defenders over the tryline is timely as Scotland and England have spoken to the winger about his potential allegiance in recent weeks.
But Sale were often their own worst enemies. Ford threw an interception attempt to Saracens scrumhalf Ivan Van Zyl just on the stroke of half-time and missed goal kicks in admittedly appalling conditions. There were other chances but they managed to narrow down three scrum penalties in the final five minutes to get over the line against their Twickenham winners.
“This win is a lot sweeter, of course,” Sanderson said. “The set-piece was fantastic and that’s where we pressured them in terms of the penalty count. It looks like we’ve found some form there with Asher coming in. It’s another good performance for Asher against another British and Irish Lion.”
The efforts of Maro Itoje who lost his hair after a midweek trip to the marauders were the main reason Saracens failed to stay in the competition but he was powerless to shape the competition to his will. At times, he looked as if he was taking the fight to Sale single-handedly and he created the try for Gareth Simpson to burst through the middle of the ruck to give the center scrum an easy half-score that closed the gap to two points on 15 minutes to go
In the context of their set piece dominance for the Saracens to come away from wet and windy AJ Bell Stadium with a bonus point loss far from the worst result in the world.
“It was fantastic,” said Mark McCall, Saracens’ director of rugby. “I thought he’s been there for a while now and he’s very energetic and enjoying his rugby. I think it’s well documented that he had a health problem before and people were wondering what was wrong with Maro. But when that was settled, it was the same old Maro. Better. In general I was glad that there was no point in feeling sorry for ourselves and we flew into the next thing and made a game of it.”
Data matching
Sale: J Carpenter; T Roebuck, R Du Preez, M Tuilagi (S Bedlow, 43), A Reed; G Ford, G Warr; R Harrison, A Creevy (L Cowan-Dickie, 41), N Schonert (A Opoku-Fordjour, 49), C Wiese, J Hill (J Beaumont, 58), E Van Rhyn, B Curry, JL Du Preez
Saracens: A Goode; L Cinti, N Tompkins, O Hartley, S Maitland (L Mulipola, 51-60); O Farrell, I van Zyl (G Simpson, 60); M Vunipola (T West, 53), J George (T Dan, 53), A Clarey (L Mulipola, 76), M Itoje, T McFarland (T Knight, 76), J Martin Gonzalez, A Christie, B Vunipola (H Tizard, 53)
Scoring sequence: 0-3, Farrell pen; 5-3, Creevy try; 7-3, Ford con; 7-8, Van Zyl try; 7-10, Farrell con; 12-10, Roebuck try; 17-10, Cowan-Dickie try; 19-10, Ford con; 19-13, Farrell pen; 22-13, Ford pen; 22-18, Simpson try; 22-20, Farrell con;
