Wednesday, March 27

Late Jono Ross try helps Sale progress past Bristol in epic encounter | Champions Cup


Exit hit hard, hit often, and occasionally hit high. Their reward, having soaked up the self-inflicted damage caused by one red card and two yellows, is progress to the last eight of the Champions Cup. Arron Reed was sent off in the first half, Faf de Klerk and Nick Schonert were shown yellow cards either side of half-time, but the Sharks’ physicality and a late try by the captain, Jono Ross, proved enough to edge them past Bristol.

An opening flurry of box kicking had suggested both teams would opt to eliminate risk as far as possible, but Sale’s scrummaging strength – combined with the incessant prompting of De Klerk – began to punch holes in Bristol’s defence. The Springboks scrum-half, rumored to be heading for Japan when he leaves Sale in the summer, stole down the blindside with an opportunistic run before the Sharks hooker Akker van der Merwe sprinted on to kick ahead, straight down the middle, only to be kept out by some desperate Bristol defending.

A smart 50-22 kick by the England No 9, Harry Randall, helped to arrest Sale’s momentum and, although the hosts spurned that opportunity, which was the first time they had threatened the opposing try-line, Jake Kerr soon bundled over thanks to a pop pass by the Bears wing Luke Morahan. The try was chalked off for a knock-on after a TMO check but, at the same time, De Klerk was sent to the sin bin for an early tackle on Fitz Harding. Callum Sheedy knocked over the conversion to open the scoring.

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Some lightning-fast competition at the breakdown by the prop Bevan Rodd allowed Rob du Preez to level it with a penalty at 3-3 and, when De Klerk emerged from the sin bin a few minutes later, it was Sale and their fearsome set of forwards in the ascendancy. Nathan Hughes was fortunate to avoid a yellow card himself as a Sale maul rolled towards the line. But Lood de Jager, another Sale Springbok, forced his way over for the first try of the night.

The Sharks had taken a grip on the game but another card would soon interrupt their progress. After Reed’s reckless shoulder into the face of Bristol’s Morahan, cutting in off the right wing, the referee Frank Murphy adjourned to a big screen to assess the appropriate sanction. With every replay that appeared on screen, the wails and jeers grew louder from the Bristol fans, but regardless of the pressure that may have exerted, it was a clear sending off. A red card was duly produced from Murphy’s pocket.

The score stood at 10-3 to Sale on the night and, in view of the ease with which the visitors had managed De Klerk’s yellow-card absence, there was reason to believe they would deal with a permanent one-man disadvantage. That was even more apparent when another beefy driving maul allowed Van der Merwe to peel off the side and dot down to make it 17-3 at half-time.

When Bristol failed to gather the second-half restart, Manu Tuilagi and Jean-Luc du Preez combined to send Tom Roebuck over and gave the Sharks a 20-point lead in the tie. Schonert’s shoulder barge on Joe Joyce led to Sale’s second yellow card and Harry Thacker, the replacement hooker, narrowed the gap with Bristol’s first try.

Down to 13, Sale began to look ragged – with Semi Radrada appearing from the bench for Bristol. Morahan stole over on the right thanks to a brilliant pass by Randall and Bristol, for the first time, believed, even more so when Joyce barreled over as the match moved into the final quarter. Du Preez’s penalty edged Sale back in front, John Hawkins of Bristol was sent to the sin bin for a high hit, and Bristol’s spirited recovery was finally ended when a cross-kick went right and Ross’s try concluded a chaotic tie.


www.theguardian.com

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