Your Sharks got the 2025/26 Prem Rugby Cup campaign off to a winning start after three second half tries secured an impressive win over a strong Bristol Bears side at the Salford Stadium.
Scores from debutant Nathan Jibulu as well as academy stars Dom Hanson and Ollie Davies saw Alex Sanderson’s men turn around a seven-point half time deficit to secure a 24-15 win.
A vibrant second-half was in contrast to a stop-start first period which was lit up by a huge Jibulu hit on halfway after 18 minutes.
But moments later the breakthrough came courtesy of Bears centre Joe Jenkins who went under the sticks after a break and an offload from Harry Thacker.
Former Sharks favourite AJ MacGinty converted to give Pat Lam’s men a deserved seven-point lead, but that only lasted five minutes as Sharks hit back with a well-worked try.
From a lineout on the right, the ball was shifted quickly to Tom Curtis who released a flying Obi Ene on the left. The winger attacked the line and offloaded to fellow winger Tom O’Flaherty who powered through the covering tackles to finish in the corner.
Curtis missed the conversion but Sharks were back in the game. It looked like it would remain a two-point game going into half-time until the Bears struck again in the closing minutes.
This time it came from a Bears lineout and after a series of pick and gos were repelled by a powerful Sharks defence, full-back Josh Carrington touched down in the corner on debut.
The second half started in cagey fashion, but the game swung on 50 minutes when Bears skipper Fitz Harding was sent to the sin-bin for pulling down a Sharks maul close to the visitors’ line.
Sharks took full advantage of the extra man and brought the scores level at 12-12 a minute later when Jibulu touched down from the back of a maul and Curtis converted.
Bears’ new signing Louis Rees-Zammit entered the fray but suddenly it was all Sale and four minutes later their pressure was rewarded when a break from Rekeiti Ma-asi-White and a chip through from Ollie Davies led to a first Sharks try for academy scrum-half Dom Hanson.
Curtis slotted the extras to give Sharks a seven-point lead but almost immediately that was cut to four when MacGinty slotted a simple penalty.
The respite was only temporary for the Bears as a penalty won against the head by Sharks’ replacement front-row led to a lineout five metres out.
Sharks shifted the ball from right to left and then back again for Ollie Davies to go over in the corner. Curtis missed the conversion but it didn’t matter.
