By Jonathan Noad
November 9 2003

Sale finally broke their Edgeley Park duck with a convincing first half display against a resilient Leeds Tykes side. The return of Charlie Hodgson to the starting line up gave the Sale back line some missing sparkle. Hodgson created some fantastic moves for Sale with his usual slick passing and quick feet – he even scored one himself. As Sir Jim has pointed out on a number of occasions a world class player such as Charlie is really missed particularly when he plays in such an important midfield position.

Sale opened their account in the ninth minute when Graeme Bond forced his way over to score his fifth try this season. BVS normally reliable boot failed in the conversion attempt in blustery conditions. Some shocking defending from Sale, however, led to Leeds taking the lead four minutes later with a well worked try for the impressive Dan Scarborough – this was duly converted by Duncan Hodge to take Leeds into 5-7 lead. Sale however kept showing their mettle with Bond getting near the try line on a number occasions.

It was not until the half hour mark when Charlie Hodgson dived over following a clever dummy for one of his trademark tries. Van Straaten added the conversion followed shortly afterwards by Matt Cairns diving over - the hooker playing more like a winger. Sale were certainly showing some confidence and playing attractive rugby again. Shortly before the break Steve Hanley powered over with BVS converting. A further indiscretion by Leeds allowed BVS to punish his old club yet again with the boot to send the home side into a 27-7 lead at half time having already claimed a bonus point.

Leeds came out in the second half hungry to try and redress the balance however they soon transgressed with BVS boot putting a further 3 points onto the Sharks score. Sale however eased off a little too much with the game surely won – Christophers went over for a converted try following the sin binning of Sharks scrum half Nick Walshe to set up a nervy finish. Following Walshes reinstatement Sale soon changed gear again with some cracking passing to set Vaughan Going up for a score which proved very popular with the Birtles / Chealde End faithful. BVS duly converted. However near the end Kevin Yates was also sin binned and following considerable pressure Leeds replacement Stuart-Smith scored with Hodge again converting. Try as Leeds might they could not get a bonus point and the game finished at 37-21.

Sale can now move on having broken the psychological barrier of that elusive first win at their new home. They certainly seem more like the Sale we have come to know and love but there is still some room for improvement. The return of Basil and new signing White will give Sale a further shot in the arm to advance their cause in the Zp this season – all we will need then is the return of Whizz (hopefully with the Webb Ellis tucked under his arm) together with Big red and other injured players.

SCORING DETAILS

5-0 TRY 9 Min (Bond)
5-5 TRY 13 Min (Scarbrough)
5-7 CONV 13 Min (Hodge)
10-7 TRY 30 Min (Hodgson)
12-7 CONV 30 Min (Van Straaten)
17-7 TRY 34 Min (Cairns)
22-7 TRY 39 Min (Hanley)
24-7 CONV 39 Min (Van Straaten)
27-7 PENK 40 Min (Van Straaten)

HALF TIME SALE SHARKS 27 LEEDS TYKES 7

30-7 PENK 45 Min (Van Straaten)
30-12 TRY 63 Min (Christophers)
30-14 CONV 63 Min (Hodge)
35-14 TRY 73 Min (Going)
37-14 CONV 73 Min (Van Straaten)
37-19 TRY 80 Min (Stuart-Smith)
37-21 CONV 80 Min (Hodge)

FULL TIME: SALESHARKS 37 LEEDS TYKES 21

TEAMS

Sale Sharks

15 Going; 14 Cueto; 13 Van Straaten; 12 Bond; 11 Hanley; 10 Hodgson; 9 Walshe; 8 C. Jones; 7 Pinkerton; 6 Sanderson; 5 Schofield; 4 Fullarton; 3 Stewart; 2 Cairns; 1 Sheridan

Replacements: 16 Titterell; 17 Yates; 18 Turner; 19 Lund; 20 Mayor; 21 Baxendell; 22 Wigglesworth

Scorers: Bond (1T) Hodgson (1T) Cairns (1T) Hanley (1T) Going (1T) van Straaten (3C, 2P)

Leeds Tykes

15 Scarbrough; 14 Rees; 13 Davies; 12 Botham; 11 Christophers; 10 Hodge; 9 Walker; 1 Shelley; 2 Rawlinson; 3 Powell; 4 Murphy; 5 Morgan; 6 Salter; 7 Ponton; 8 Hyde. Replacements: 16 Holt; 17 Halford; 18 Persico; 19 Stuart-Smith; 20 Cardey; 21 Walsh; 22 Hooper.

Scorers: Scarborough (1T) Christohpers (1T) Stuart Smith (1T) Hodge (3C)