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Match Report

Saturday, April 4th 2009

Guinness Premiership

Sale Sharks

31

Leicester Tigers

37

Attendance: 17,498

Mark Cueto - brace of tries

Mark Cueto - brace of tries

Sale Sharks were rocked by a Tigers team which played with fourteen men for 57 minutes of the game. The home side won the try count by five to three, regaining top spot, ten points ahead of their visitors in the Premiership table. Against the usual raucous background of a Welford Road crowd, it took just six minutes for Alesana Tuilagi to power his way over the line, Flood converting. Charlie Hodgson opened the Sharks' account two minutes later, penalising offside, only for Flood to make it 10-3 after ten minutes with a penalty. Within a minute, play switched to the other end. After a Sharks' lineout, the half backs combined to find Mark Cueto appearing at Hodgson's shoulder to scythe his way over. The supplier of the final pass added the conversion to level the scores. The action was end-to-end, with Vesty, temporarily at fly half, bursting through on 19 minutes. The supporting Erinle was held by Neil Briggs, but Hamilton came off his wing to make a diagonal run left and over the line. Vesty converted. With 23 minutes gone, referee Barnes awarded the Sharks a free kick at a scrum. The front rows stood up in the expected bristling manner. Home tight head prop Julian White landed a punch in the face of Andrew Sheridan and was shown a red card. Castrogiovanni, later awarded the broadcaster's 'Man of the Match', took over at prop and Number 8 Pienaar was 'sacrificed'. The game continued to simmer, with the Tigers making light of their one-man disadvantage and Sharks initially doing well at scrum time. Tuilagi continued to threaten, and Hamilton was almost over following a Murphy run. There had been no score for sixteen minutes - unusual for the game - until Cueto scored his second try (his ninth Premiership try of the season) with two minutes to half time. It was a classic, sweeping backs' move, Hodgson to Tait, Macleod then Cueto in the corner. Hodgson missed the conversion and Flood missed a penalty to give a half time score of 17-15.

Hodgson (penalty, 43 mins.) put the visitors ahead for the first time after Tait was 'taken out' off the ball, but Flood restored the balance three minutes later. Sharks regained the lead after 48 minutes, Hodgson and Tait setting up Neil Briggs on a run for the line. The score became 25-all after 53 minutes when a Hodgson kick ahead was collected and run from defence. Hipkiss and Tuiagi interpassed for the centre to score Leicester's third try. The Tigers' seven-man scrum caused disruption to the Sharks' eight leading up to the hour mark, when the Tigers gained a try bonus point through Hamilton. Replacement prop Castrogiovanni started the raid, Flood produced a grubber kick which Hamilton followed up. Flood added the conversion. It was then the turn of the Sharks to have a good spell, Tait and Ripol threatening the home defence. Kay halted progress by entering from the side, allowing Hodgson to reduce the gap to four points with a penalty under the posts with fourteen minutes left. The Tigers seemed to raise their tempo as the vociferous crowd did likewise with the volume. Uncontested scrums became the order of the day two minutes later, shortly before Vesty slammed the door shut with a fifth Tigers' try. Both sides maintained the competitive nature of the game,Oriol Ripol running through, only for Andy Tuilagi to obstruct, then Vesty having a kick charged down by Richard Wigglesworth. With a minute left, Hodgson slotted over a penalty for a 'losing bonus' point.

The Sharks will be sorely disappointed not to have won against fourteen men, but credit to the Tigers for handling their situation to such good effect. The Sharks have two home games, against Quins and Northampton Saints, to keep themselves in the mix for Heineken Cup qualification.

Scoring (Tigers first) 7-0, 7-3, 10-3, 10-10, 17-10, 17-15 (Half Time) 17-18, 20-18, 20-25, 25-25, 32-25, 32-28, 37-28, 37-31.

Man of the Match: Mark Cueto

Scorers

Sharks

Leicester Tigers
Tries Mark Cueto (2)
Neil Briggs
 Alesana Tuilagi
Scott Hamilton (2)
Dan Hipkiss
Sam Vesty
Conversions Charlie Hodgson (2)
 Toby Flood (2)
Sam Vesty
Penalties Charlie Hodgson (4)
 Toby Flood (2)
 

Sale Sharks Starting 15
1 Andrew Sheridan Prop
2 Sebastien Bruno Hooker
3 Eifion Roberts Prop
4 Chris Jones Lock
5 Brent Cockbain Lock
6 Jason White Flanker
7 Neil Briggs Flanker
8 Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe Number 8
9 Dwayne Peel Scrumhalf
10 Charlie Hodgson Flyhalf
11 Oriol Ripol Wing
12 Rudi Keil Inside Centre
13 Mathew Tait Outside
14 Mark Cueto Wing
15 Nick Macleod Fullback
 

Replacements

 Replaced (time)
16 Stuart Turner Not used
17 Lionel Faure Sheridan (69)
18 Dean Schofield Cockbain (51)
19 Carl Fearns Bruno (62)
20 Richard Wigglesworth Peel (65)
21 Anitelea Tuilagi Keil (69)
22 Selorm Kuadey Not used

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