MATCH REPORT | BATH RUGBY 36-28 SALE SHARKS
Sale Sharks take away a try bonus point from Round Five against Bath Rugby at The Rec.
Finn Russell kicked things off, with Bath retaining possession from the kick-off and allowing Henry Arundell to mark his return to the Gallagher PREM with a try, using his pace to touch down in the corner.
Sarks responded to the early try through their set piece, as Nathan Jibulu crashed over after Sale earned a penalty in midfield and George Ford pinned a kick deep into the 22.
Tom de Glanville regained the lead for Bath, as the hosts moved the ball from one wing to the other, drawing in the Sharks defence and creating an opportunity for de Glanville to exploit the gap.
Bath capitalised on this momentum, with Joe Cokanasiga adding a third before half-time. Bath won the scraps of an aerial contest before working through the phases with their backs and producing an offload to Cokanasiga, who dotted down in the corner.
Going into the break, Bath led 19-7.
Bath came flying out of the blocks in the second half and scored first through a Finn Russell cross-field kick to Joe Cokanasiga, who secured his second try.
Sharks responded minutes later with an excellent one-handed dive from Tom O’Flaherty into the corner to bring the score to 26-14.
Sharks were penalised while defending their try line, and Russell called for the tee to extend Bath’s lead to more than two scores. However, Bath secured their fourth try minutes later as Louis Hennessey collected a grubber kick to crash over the line.
Sale restarted play with determination to push for something to take away from The Rec. Sharks won a penalty from the restart, and Fordy pinned a kick towards the five-metre for a line out. The forwards hammered away at the line with several pick-and-goes, earning another penalty and another opportunity to attack.
Luke Cowan-Dickie stepped up with a pick-and-go, driving hard at the line before Elia Canakaivata collected the ball from the base of the breakdown and wrestled his way over. Fordy added the conversion to secure the try bonus point.
Alex Sanderson said post-match:
“I was impressed with some aspects of the game. We talked about an emotional response and physicality before the game, and we saw all of that in spades, I thought.
“We created some try-scoring opportunities, which we didn’t capitalise on. In terms of heart and fight, clearly that was there, but in terms of execution, that’s what we need to fix going forward.”
Looking ahead to the next block of PREM Cup fixtures, Al said:
“We’ve got a lot of exciting talent coming through. Our Under-23s have had a couple of good wins, and I’m looking forward to seeing how they can progress with the opportunities over the next two weeks.”
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