MATCH REPORT: SHARKS 50 v 28 BATH
A dominant second half performance saw Your Sharks score eight tries against a young Bath team to get the 2026/27 season off to a winning start.
A Joe Carpenter hat-trick, a debut try from new scrum-half Xavier Roe and 80 minute performances from new men Courtney Lawes and Joe Marchant got the CorpAcq Stadium faithful off their seats as Sharks racked up 50 points in the Salford sunshine.
Injuries to Ernst van Rhyn and Ben Bamber were the only negatives as Alex Sanderson handed debuts to five new signings.
Sharks started the game on the front foot and were rewarded inside three minutes when a Joe Carpenter kick through was gathered and touched down by Tom Roebuck.
Bath hit back and stormed into a 5-14 lead with two quick-fire tries but just before the half hour mark, Roebuck returned the favour to Carpenter as he put the England full-back away in the corner.
Debutant fly-half Alex Lozowski missed his conversion to leave Sharks still trailing, but just before half-time they went in front. Gus Warr took a quick tap and fed Arron Reed who slipped it to Carpenter to beat the last defender and dive under the sticks.
Sharks headed to the sheds with a slender 17-14 lead but they extended that within three minutes of the start of the second period as Carpenter scored his hat-trick try.
Lozowski converted to take the score to 24-14 and six minutes later they went further ahead when prop Tye Raymont bagged his first Sharks try.
Sharks were in full flow and on 54 minutes they scored their sixth try. Roebuck and Carpenter were at the heart of it again with the full-back feeding debutant Xavier Roe to dive under the posts.
Two minutes later it was seven as Sam Dugdale pounced on a loose ball in the lineout to put Nathan Jibulu away in the corner. Lozowski nailed a tricky conversion to make it 45-14.
Alex’s men weren’t done there and they added their eight and final try in the 65th minute through replacement hooker Alfie Longstaff.
Bath added two late converted tries but they couldn’t take the gloss off a satisfying day for the Sharks Director of Rugby.
Related articles
OFFICIAL SPONSORS
