By Jonathan Noad
October 12 2003

Following the previous weeks first victory of the season and the first victory at Welford Road many felt the time was now right for Sale to get that first win at Edgeley Park. Sale fans were, however, left disappointed yet again as the Sharks were left still searching for that elusive first home win Despite the result the game was entertaining which saw Wasps centre Fraser Waters score a hat trick of tries in the first half. Waters first came after only 2 minutes when Sharks defence was breached easily. Wasps fly half Mark van Gisbergen duly converted. Braam van Straaten drilled over a penalty for Sale which was eliminated one minute later when van Gisbergen kicked a penalty for Wasps. Shortly after Waters scored his second again converted which took the Wasps into a 17-3 lead. Van Straaten scored three more penalties with his increasingly reliable boot to take the scores to 17-12 and giving the Sharks some hope however Waters crossed again for a converted try. Shortly before half time Graeme Bond barged his way over and van Straaten converted from the touchline to take the scores to 19-24 at half time.

The start of the first half was dominated by both sides defence with only one penalty scored by van Gisbergen. Wasps Rudd scored a try on the 64th minute which was again converted by the impressive van Gisbergen. Four minutes later Sale replacement Matt Cairns scored a try following a massive drive by the pack. Up the Edgeley Park pitch. Van Straaten again finding the gap between the uprights. Sale were now looking like they could come back and snatch the game playing with more aggression than they had done all the way through the game. With three minutes to go, however, they conceded a penalty which took the scores to 26-37 which would mean the Sharks would fail to even get a point out the game. Sale continued to apply pressure and the Wasps defence stood firm however they kept being penalised on their own line and eventually Sale were awarded a penalty try taking the final scores to 33-37 and a precious point.

Despite winning only one from five Sale have got points in every game which may well prove important. Sir Jim and Dimes must be very frustrated coaches and need to get the team to find that cutting edge. Rotherham away is the next fixture and the Sharks will need to make sure they produce the goods there otherwise they will be rooted near the bottom of the table. Lets just hope the injury crisis eases soon with no less than eight players on the treatment table and of course Basil, Whizz and Jason White down under.

TEAMS

Sale Sharks

15 Going; 14 Cueto; 13 Mayor; 12 Bond; 11 Hanley; 10 van Straaten; 9 Walshe; 8 C. Jones; 7 Pinkerton; 6 Sanderson; 5 Schofield; 4 Fullarton; 3 Turner; 2 Titterell; 1 Sheridan

Replacements: 16 Cairns; 17 Yates ; 18 Stewart; 19 Lund; 20 Devlin; 21 Hoyle; 22 Wigglesworth

Scorers: Bond (1T) Cairns (1T) Penalty (1T) van Straaten (3C, 4P)


London Wasps

15 Voyce, 14 Roiser, 13 Waters, 12 Denney, 11 Rudd, 10 van Gisbergen, 9 Howley, 1 Payne, 2 Greening, 3 Dowd, 4 Shaw, 5 Birkett, 6 Volley, 7 O'Connor, 8 Scrivener.

Replacements: 16 Richards, 17 Roberts, 18 Clarke, 19 Lock, 20 Purdy, 21 Mackenzie, 22 Leota.

Scorers: Waters (3T) Rudd (T) van Gisbergen (4C, 3P)


SCORING DETAILS

0-5 TRY 2 Min (Waters)
0-7 CONV 2 Min (Van Gisbergen)
3-7 PENK 7 Min (Van Straaten)
3-10 PENK 8 Min (Van Gisbergen)
3-15 TRY 10 Min (Waters)
3-17 CONV 10 Min (Van Gisbergen)
6-17 PENK 14 Min (Van Straaten)
9-17 PENK 19 Min (Van Straaten)
12-17 PENK 22 Min (Van Straaten)
12-22 TRY 31 Min (Waters)
12-24 CONV 31 Min (Van Gisbergen)
17-24 TRY 34 Min (Bond)
19-24 CONV 34 Min (Van Straaten)

HALF TIME: SALESHARKS 19 LONDON WASPS 24

19-27 PENK 49 Min (Van Gisbergen)
19-32 TRY 64 Min (Rudd)
19-34 CONV 64 Min (Van Gisbergen)
24-34 TRY 68 Min (Cairns)
26-34 CONV 68 Min (Van Straaten)
26-37 PENK 77 Min (Van Gisbergen)
31-37 TRY 80 Min (Penalty)
33-37 CONV 80 Min (Van Straaten)

FULL TIME: SALESHARKS 33 LONDON WASPS 37