Sale Sharks Women came up just short against Bristol Bears in a gruelling encounter with the winner heading to the PWR Cup semi finals.
Sharks took command of the game early – a powerful driving maul got the team on the board in under ten minutes. Milly Hyndman opened the scoring and Lizzie Duffy calmly slotted the conversion to silence the home support.
Sale doubled their advantage half way through the first forty. This time off the back of an attacking scrum ten metres out. Sharifa Kasolo picked it out the back of the set piece and threw a basketball-style pass over the onrushing defender to Holly Thorpe, who finished smartly, stepping one defender and sliding over the line.
The score remained 0-12 for the rest of the half with the teams heading to the sheds after twenty more attritional minutes with Sale the better team throughout.
A tough second forty followed and this time it was Bristol getting on the scoresheet early, burrowing over from close range.
The second half was just as physical as the first and Sharks will rue missed opportunities – several entries into the hosts 22’ and some even beyond the 5’, all came away without an impact on the scoreline.
At the other end, tries on the hour mark from Lovibond and with ten minutes to go from Murray, tipped the balance in favour of the hosts and Sale were left on the wrong end of a 15-12 full time score.
The hosts will take heart from the progress they have made but ultimately come up just short of a PWR semi final. This means the next chance for Sharks fans to see their team will be at the regular season opener at Heywood Road as we host Leicester Tigers. You can purchase your ticket now, here.
